Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer

Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was recommended to me by a Catholic sister who is the librarian in our grade school. She loved the book but said it wasn't appropriate for a grade school library. To be honest, although this is written for kids, I think this is a book that will be most appreciated by the target audience's mothers or even grandmothers.

This is not to say I didn't like the book. I loved it! But most of the kids that I know have never seen a nun in full habit unless they've watched an old movie. They have no idea about the changes brought about by Vatican 2 or the struggles of the emerging feminists.

I think a case could be made to buy it as a historical fiction candidate, but I can't see getting many kids to read it. I hope I'm wrong because I think that many young teens would enjoy the story if they understood the background.

Mary Clare, the sixth grade aspiring Mother Superior, is hilarious. Fixmer does a wonderful job of portraying her angst over her sins and transgressions while also making her a typical tween who is envious of her friends and angry about her numerous chores and responsibilities.

I loved her parents as well. Although her father yelled alot, he was also a loving and caring role model who was being asked to adapt to quite a few changes. Her mother also was far from the stereotypical devoted wife who accepted everything that came her way. She was a strong, independent woman at a time when this "just wasn't done."

If you grew up Catholic or always wanted to peek into the life of those loud, boisterous neighbors with the holy water in their living room this is the book for you.



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Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex Harris

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I listened to "Do Hard Things" and when I was finished I thought: check, I've done a hard thing. Not that it was terrible, but it was pretty preachy and slightly sanctimonious. The idea was good, but the tone was so "aren't we great and don't you wish you could be like us," that it made it difficult to listen to.

As I said, it has a good premise. Who doesn't think that teenagers need to work harder and have more expectations of themselves. I'll be the first to admit that most of the time, I don't really expect anything of my kids other than they just exist. But, these guys were just over-the-top and so full of themselves and their accomplishments. Some of the descriptions just went on and on. If I had been reading the book at least I could have skipped ahead and not gotten so impatient with all of their superior explanations.

One of my favorite parts (not) was when they talked about some teens who helped a super right wing candidate get elected. They actually thought that God had helped them because he had hand picked this guy to win! What abut when evil left leaning candidates win? Did God lose out to Satan? Maybe his helpers weren't pious enough.

Sorry for the rant. As I said, I like the idea of this book and would love to see teens (and even adults) be challenged to do "hard things" and be pushed out of their comfort zone, but these two holier than thou types aren't going to inspire any self respecting adolescents to do anything.

On a positive note: these boys were so condescending and obnoxious that it actually made me appreciate my own less than perfect kids.



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The Roar by Emma Clayton

The Roar by Emma Clayton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I listened to most of this book and read some so that I could get it finished. I really enjoyed listening to it. The reader was great and hearing the words really helped build the suspense and made me feel so much more involved in the story. Playaways are so great. I wish our library had them.


This was a very exciting and suspenseful book. The characters were likeable and believable and even the parents came across as rational and normal people. I had a slight problem at the end where the book became pretty transparently didactic and preachy but it was very minor compared to my overall enjoyment of the book.


This book would be really popular with kids who like video games and anyone who liked "Hugner Games" and other dystopian novels. I have heard that a sequel is coming out and I'm really looking forward to that.



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Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

I just finished this book and really liked it. Long before my librarian days I was a welder at a shipyard in Texas. That helped me connect to this book but I think that most people will be caught up in this intense story.

In the United States of the future some states have ceased to exist. Residing where Louisiana used to be is a watery grave filled with the rusting carcasses of wrecked and useless oil tankers. This is where 17 year old Nailer exists. I can’t say “lives” because no one here actually has much of a life. Nailer and his friends survive by scavenging copper wire from the old ships. Nailer is useful because he is still small enough to fit into tiny crawlspaces and ducts. Once he becomes too big for this job, he’ll be out of luck. All of the people working these jobs are looking for their “Lucky Strike”—their one chance to find something really valuable and sell it before someone bigger or stronger steals it.

One day when Nailer and his friend, Pima, are out exploring they discover a clipper ship that has been wrecked in a storm. They decide to board the ship and see what goodies they can find before others beat them to it. Just as they expected, they find jewelry, silver and all sorts of other valuables that they can carry away and sell. What they don’t expect to find is a young girl, barely breathing, but still alive. Their first instinct is to kill her and take her jewelry—just one of her rings would support them for a lifetime.

But Nita, the survivor, has other plans. She convinces them to help her and when she gets back to her wealthy father, he’ll reward them handsomely. Unfortunately for Nailer and Pima, there are a few essential details that Nita leaves out.

This is a rapid fire novel filled with adventure, human/animal hybrids and even a little romance. A great book for teen boys.

Things That Make Me Conflicted

It strikes me that book award panels often cause a crisis of conscience for librarians. On one hand, as an intellectual person who appreciates word craft and good literature and feels a certain responsibility to have award winning books in my library, I am dedicated to purchasing the books that are chosen by the various panels.

On the other hand, my miniscule budget and desire to spend this money on books that I know will be popular makes me think twice about letting my limited resources go for something that I know will just sit on the shelf. It's not that these titles are bad, (in fact, many of them are quite good) just that they are not what the kids want to read.

"When You Reach Me" is just such a book. It is quirky, well written and enjoyable if you are an adult, but I just can't see kids relating to it. Although Miranda is a likeable character, she is just too precocious and weird. Also, I can't see teens or tweens relating to this time period. Who has even heard of the Ten Thousand Dollar Pyramid? The ending sort of saves the book but I'm wondering how many kids will understand what all has happened. I didn't really get it at first and had to reread to understand. Maybe I'm just dim.

So, there's my quandary. Do I buy this book because it's important to have good quality literature for teens? After all, if I only want to spend money on things that will circ I should get rid of my whole collection and just buy "Twilight" and all of the other books with a vampire storyline.

But,like "The Higher Power of Lucky" I can see this book staring at me from the shelves, uncirced and untouched, driving my pragmatic and miserly conscience crazy. Like booktalking a novel that I don't really think kids will enjoy, "When You Reach Me" really is one of those things that makes me conflicted!

Books for the College Bound

If you're like most high school students these days you either don't like to read or don't have time to read. But if your Xbox breaks or you get sick of watching Simon purse his lips on American Idol, you might like to peruse this list of books for college bound.

These are the books that are required by high school English teachers from all over the country. Some of these are for AP classes but many of them are read (and believe it or not, enjoyed) by regular old teens like you. The list may appear daunting, but there are lots of fun items on there. "Part-time Indian" and "Spanking Shakespeare" are both laugh out loud reads that won't even seem like homework.

This could be a great way to find common ground with other teenagers from around the country. You could be reading the same book as some hot guy from California. Imagine the "Facebook" pages you could start!

There are some pretty highbrow things on this list also, but a little intellectual endeavor never hurt anyone. Y0u never know when something you have to read for school can give you insight or help you come up with a topic for your college essay. At the very least it may someday make you seem intelligent and well read at a cocktail party or job interview. Who knows?

High School or a Minefield???

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
High school has been easy for Regina and the rest of her gang, the "Fearsome Fivesome." In fact, their job is to have fun and make life miserable for everyone else. But when Regina gets caught in the wrong place at a school party, she goes from being a queen bee to a sqaushed bug. Now she gets to see how it feels to be terrorized, teased and victimized by the people she used to call her friends. Are high school girls really this mean and conniving? Some girls are...

This was a quick read but also pretty painful. I just find it hard to believe that high school is really this much of a minefield. Anna, the main (mean) character is almost a caricature of all of the evil girls we've seen in teen movies. This isn't to say I didn't like the book. It was engrossing and kept me interested but it didn't seem believable.

I also find it hard to fathom that school administrators are so clueless. Can kids really be terrorizing other students right under their noses? And what about Regina's parents, she came home daily with new bruises, both physical and emotional, and they never noticed a thing. In fact I don't think her father even interacted with her in the book.

Spoiler alert....
What I did like was the fact that Regina didn't immediately renounce her evil ways and become nice all of the sudden. For awhile it seemed like she was determined to be even meaner than she was before. I thought that this was a big plus for the book. It would have been easy to have Regina break down, feel guilty and instantly become friends with the same kids she used to terrorize.

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