Language:  0

Violence:  0

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  A.P.  Giannini: The Man With the Midas Touch

Authors:  Dana Haight Cattani and Angela B. Haight

Ratings Explanation

Adult Themes: References to corrupt mob bosses influencing votes during an election.  References to unequal treatment of minorities

Synopsis

This biographical account of Amadeo Peter (A.P.) Giannini traces the life of one of the most powerful, yet unassuming, men in the financial business world during the first half of the 20^th century.  As founder of the Bank of Italy (forerunner to the Bank of America), A.P.’s influence in the financial industry is felt, even today.  A.P., a native of the San Francisco Bay area, started his bank in 1904 so that the needs of minorities, blue-collar workers and even women could be met.   His formula for success was simple–hard work, individual customer service, and respect for the common man.  He taught the bank’s customers the concept of interest and how it could work in their favor.  Small, local loans were approved instead of the prevailing philosophy of only loaning to established large businesses.  Long-term, loyal customers were the goal, not short-term profits.  Mr. Giannini saw opportunities when others saw chaos and disaster.  The Bank of Italy not only survived, but thrived during an earthquake, a national financial crisis, and two world wars.  One bank grew into a network of banks that crossed California, the United States and eventually the world.

I wish I could have met Mr. Giannini—and I wish he were around to help America through its current economic recession.  I’m sure we’d be better off!  This man had great character and an untarnished value system.  Traits we’d all do well to develop.  I was reminded of the great poem, “If” by Rudyard Kipling as I read this book.  Such lines as:

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs”…

“Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch”…

Language: 0

Violence: 2.5

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Three Quarters Dead

Author: Richard Peck

*This review refers to an Advanced Reader’s Copy. Three Quarters Dead will be available for purchase October 28, 2010.

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Kerry’s friends persuade her to enter someone else’s house with a stolen key.  She leaves a baby doll with its throat slit and fake blood on a bedroom pillow.  There is a car accident and 3 girls die.  It is later described in detail from the dead girl’s point of view.  Tanya calls the dead girls back to life.  Kerry sees Natalie’s hand.  “It wasn’t even hers.  It was withered and worse.  It was shrunken, spotted, and greenish…oozing something that wasn’t blood.”  Makenzie “had no face.  She had been dead for weeks”. Tanya comes after Kerry and Spence with a knife.  Kerry and Tanya fight for the knife.

Sexual Content: “It was like an orgy of grief.”  The girls put on bra’s that give “bosoms that could take us anywhere.”  Several references are made to a “peekaboo” bra.

Adult Themes: Some girls think another girl has had an abortion and are cruel to her.  Kerry thinks doing bad things is like an initiation to the group.  Peer pressure is huge. The kids go to parties and after are “zonked”.  Kerry sees a grief counselor.  Kerry repeatedly lies to her parents and others.

Synopsis

Kerry believes her life has value now that the three coolest girls at school have noticed her.  She is willing to do anything to be a part of their group.  Then, unexpectedly, those girls are killed in a car accident and Kerry finds herself adrift and alone, full of grief and feeling “three quarters dead” herself.  One day Kerry receives a text from Tanya, one of the dead girls, telling her to meet them in New York.  Kerry goes and what she finds will send shivers down your spine!

I am quite guilty of judging this book by its cover.  I have actually never read a book quite like this before because I usually steer clear of anything that claims to be even remotely scary.  I do not like to be scared.  I didn’t realize that this book was a “ghost story” when I started it.  Was I scared reading this book?  Nope.  And I even read it late at night!  I was oddly interested in it though and I have to admit, I did continue to think about it after I was done reading it.  My favorite line from this book?  “People are always gone before you expect it.”  I would recommend 9^th-12^th grade for this book.

Language: 0

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Dangerous Neighbors

Author: Beth Kephart

National Book Award Finalist

*This review refers to an advanced copy.  Dangerous Neighbors will be available for purchase in August 2010.

Ratings Explanation

Violence: There is a great fire within the Shantytown.  While ice skating, Anna plunges to her death through the broken ice.

Sexual Content:  Anna has a love affair with Bennett.  A sensuous moment, though not a graphically written passage, takes place between Anna and Bennett.

Adult Themes: Katherine contemplates suicide.  She no longer wants to live without her twin.

Publisher’s Synopsis

It is 1876, The Height of the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.  Katherine has lost her twin sister, Anna, and though it was an accident, Katherine remains convinced that Anna’s death was her fault.  One wickedly hot September day, Katherine sets out for the exhibition grounds to cut short the life she is no longer willing to live.  Kephart conjures the sweep and scope of a moment in history in which the glowing future of a nation is on display to the disillusioned gaze of a girl who has determined that she no longer has a future.  The tale is a pulse-by-pulse portrait of a young heroine’s crisis of faith and salvation in the face of unbearable loss.

Kephart has the succinct ability to aptly describe a place in time.  I enjoyed reading of the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia and the young heroine’s battle within.

©2010The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Cleopatra: A Life

Author: Stacy Schiff - Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

*This review refers to an advanced copy.  Cleopatra will be available for purchase in November 2010.

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Cleopatra’s family indulged in what has been termed, “an orgy of pillage and murder.”  Over and over, mothers sent troops against sons.  Sisters waged war against brothers.  Cleopatra’s great-grandmother fought one civil war against her parents, a second against her children.  Cleopatra’s father, murdered her elder sister.  Cleopatra ably upheld the family tradition, eliminating a sister and two brothers.

Sexual Content:  Nothing could better have suited the twenty-two-year-old Cleopatra’s political agenda than motherhood.  And no single act could better have secured her future than bearing Julius Caesar’s child – while each of the new parents was married to someone else.  Incest.

Adult Themes: War, murder, adultery and betrayal.

Publisher’s Synopsis

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.

Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and–after his murder–three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra’s supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff ’s is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.

Among the most famous women to have lived.  Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt for twenty-two years.  At the height of her power, she controlled virtually the entire eastern Mediterranean coast, the last great kingdom of any Egyptian ruler.

Stacy Schiff is a brilliant writer!  If you love biographies, “Cleopatra” will hold you captive.

©2010The Literate Mother

Language: 3.5

Violence: 3.5

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 3

Title: The Last Princess and the Cup of Immortality (Goddess Prophecies, Book 1)

Author: D.R. Whitney

Ratings Explanation

Language: Frequent exclamations of deity (Oh God, mother of Jesus, my God), hells and damns in various forms, bastard and the “B” word are used.

Violence: A sacred chamber is attacked and people are slaughtered by the dozens.  Centaurs are bloodied from battle.  There is a hold-up at a bank and gunfire.  A head is chopped off and bloody.  They were “all caught for their blood”, throats slit, blood drained.  A girl is beaten with a broom for spying.  There is a car chase and gunfire.  A bus blows up killing everyone.  Thugs attack with guns, an arm is smashed into throat, bones crack, and a butterfly dagger is stabbed into throat.  A boy is “flung across room, a deep gurgling cry came out of him as he lay twisting on the floor, writhing in pain”. More gunfire, Vivienne thinks they are going to kill her.  A dragon is fought and stabbed with a sword.  A man’s hands are cut off and it is described in detail.  Someone is covered in blood, sword raised.  A dagger is thrown to slash throat.  Rotting bodies lay everywhere.  Blood is squeezed from beating heart.  There is a battle.

Sexual Content: There are several kisses throughout the book.  He “felt erotic pleasure” walking next to a young priestess.  The feeling “gripped his loins and sent a rippling pleasure over his entire body.”  A girl is pinned against wall and kissed with “ravening lust”.  The women undress Vivienne.  Her naked body is doused with cold water.  There is implied sex.  He “exuded power and raw sexuality”.  There are naked, flying, lethal sentinels, exquisitely formed.

Adult Themes: Eleanor is neglected, abandoned and abused.  Her mother would disappear with a man, completely forgetting about her daughter.  “When one lover would disappear, a few weeks later another would take his place.”  Tarot cards are used.  There is chanting, demonic chanting and mystical rituals.  Mara falls deep into a trance.  Reincarnation is spoken of frequently.

Synopsis

When Vivienne’s grandmother dies, she is left with an amulet and many unanswered questions.   The Amulet is a priceless family heirloom and Vivienne soon realizes that there are people willing to go to any lengths to get their hands on it.  Vivienne begins having visions of a handsome golden-eyed man protecting her and warning her of danger.  Her fear and confusion lead her to seek out people who can help her find answers.  Vivienne travels to England and there finds a portal into another world of witchery and magic.  There she discovers who she really is and who the golden-eyed man is.  Her special gifts start to increase and enable her with power to overcome the evil that is threatening to take over the Misty Isle world.

Vivienne is supposed to be a 16-year-old girl, but I found throughout the whole book that her “voice” and actions make this age unbelievable.  I realize that she has been “reincarnated” and that this is supposedly not her first life, but still, sixteen?  I did not love this book but I am not generally a lover of the fantasy world full of witchery, demons and such things.  I did like how Lailoken calls Vivienne “my soul”.  It seems so much more than “my love”.  I thought that the bad guys were well written.  I got a very good sense of them in my mind.  My favorite quote from this book: “Belief was the essence of manifestation.”  The age group for this book is young adult which actually covers a large age range.  I would keep this book in the 12^th grade and higher range.

Language:  0

Violence:  0

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  2

Title:  Silas Marner

Author:  George Eliot

Ratings Explanation

Adult Themes:  Silas is accused of a theft he did not commit.  Squire Cass has two dishonorable sons; one drinks and steals, and the other is secretly married to a woman he does not love who has an opium addiction.  The men in town frequent the local pub (where amusing stories are told with a slightly tipsy narration).  A dead body is discovered lying at the bottom of a pond.

Synopsis

In this classic tale, a kind, gentle linen weaver named Silas Marner is accused of a theft he did not commit.  Framed by his best friend, who then steals his fiancee and ruins his reputation, Marner quietly leaves town and exiles himself to the tiny village of Raveloe, where his reclusive nature keeps him distanced from the other villagers.  He absorbs himself in his weaving and counts his gold each night, his only comforts.  In the same village live Squire Cass and his two sons, Dunstan and Godfrey, who have their own secrets to hide.  Dunstan is a dissolute young man who spends his father’s money and drinks to excess; Godfrey, who pines for the lovely Nancy Lammeter, is secretly married to a woman far beneath him in social stature and feels trapped.  Eventually, the lives and actions of the two Cass brothers become entwined in that of Silas Marner; Dunstan stumbles upon Silas’s unlocked cottage and steals his stash of gold coins.  The theft profoundly affects Marner, who loses the only thing in life he loved or valued.  Then one day an abandoned child inexplicably appears in his lonely cottage and reawakens inside him all that was missing from his life: joy, laughter, and love.

This is a beautiful tale of spiritual rebirth and redemption.  I enjoyed watching Silas’s transformation from lonely recluse to doting father; I particularly enjoyed Mrs. Winthrop’s commentary on religion:  “…there’s trouble i’ this world, and there’s things as we can niver make out the rights on. And all as we’ve got to do is to trusten, Master Marner–to do the right thing as fur as we know, and to trusten.”  An interesting fact:  George Eliot (the author) was actually a woman named Mary Ann Evans.

Language: 3

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Saving  CeeCee Honeycutt

Author: Beth Hoffman

Rating Explanation

Language: Quite a few swear words, around 40 throughout the book. Two instances of “nigger”  and one instance each of “tramp” and “slut”. Also several profanities.

Violence: A woman is hit by a car and killed. Two middle-aged women fight, hitting and kicking each other. A man mugs a woman stealing her necklace and watch. Her friend hits him with a bag full of stones and breaks his nose.

Sexual Content: A nasty neighbor is referred to as a “great gaping vagina” and a “whore-hound”. Miz Hobbs and her married boyfriend are observed as they romp in the backyard. She wears a see though robe and is naked underneath. The man asks her to do her strip tease again as he swings her bra around. He grabs her butt and breasts. He is wearing his underwear and a Zorro mask and wants her to spank him (page 119 if you want to skip it)

Adult Themes: As a young girl, CeeCee is left to care for her mother who is mentally ill. Her father is never home because he is unable to cope with his wife’s illness. CeeCee struggles with her emotions as she resents her situation and her crazy mother. She also suspects that her father has a girlfriend. When her mother dies unexpectedly, CeeCee feels guilty and angry. She is unable to forgive the father who abandoned her.

Synopsis

Although CeeCee Honeycutt is only 11 years old, she needs saving, and quick. Abandoned by her father, she is left to care for her psychotic mother who wears a tiara and a pageant dress and thinks she is still the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen.

When tragedy visits the Honecutt family, a long lost Aunt steps into CeeCee’s life offering to rescue her from her troubles.  CeeCee is unsure whether she is ready to leave her home in Ohio and Mrs. Odell, her 80-year-old neighbor and only friend. Persuaded that this could be her new lease on life, CeeCee agrees to go with Aunt Tootie and rebuild her life in Savannah, Georgia.

Savannah is full of interesting women who readily love her and help her heal. Finally in a home where she can be the child instead of the grown-up, CeeCee has the time to grieve, forgive and remember the precious moments she shared with her sweet mother.

This is truly a modern-day fairy tale complete with the fairy godmother who waves her magic wand and grants your every wish, almost. Unfortunately, when most people have really hard things happen in their lives there isn’t a long lost aunt available to whisk them away to a mansion, they just have to learn to deal with their trials.

CeeCee was a very sympathetic character and I was so glad for her to finally find peace. No child should have to deal with a situation like hers and I thought Ms. Hoffman realistically portrayed both her bitter and sweet feelings concerning her mother.

Even though it was a little too perfect, I enjoyed the book and Hoffman’s writing. She has a way with words and every once in a while had a phrase I read over and over. One of my personal favorites came from the eccentric Miz Goodpepper . “She reached out, slid the magazine from my fingers, and studied the woman on the cover. ‘I used to look just like that. But after I turned forty it was a daily struggle to keep myself up. I turned forty-five this past February, and let me tell you, every day is nothing but an insult.’ She tossed the magazine on the table with disgust. ‘Aging is a terrible slap in the face. My body betrays me every chance it gets.’”

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean

Author: Richard Logan and Tere Duperrault Fassbender

Ratings Explanation

Language: A couple of swear words and profanities.

Violence: A matter-of-fact description of a suicide in which a man makes deep cuts all over his body, bleeding to death. Terry Jo sees her mother and brother dead in a pool of blood. Harvey strikes Terry Jo. Two women die in a car crash. Speculation as to what happened the night of the ship wreck, including the alleged murders of Terry Jo’s family and Harvey’s wife.

Adult Themes: Tragic events leave 11-year-old Terry Jo an orphan. She sees her mother and brother dead and survives alone on the ocean. It was well known that Julian Harvey had many affairs. Harvey is possibly involved in smuggling guns to Cuba. Fraudulent insurance claims. Terry Jo’s experience is compared to being raped – losing her innocence. When she is older Terry moves in with a man, gets pregnant and then they marry. Terry and husband #4 fall in love while he is still married.

Synopsis

This is the real life tragedy of the Duperralut family and the mystery that still surrounds the survival of one of their daughters. In 1961 the Duperraults set out on the adventure of a lifetime. Chartering the Bluebelle, a 60-foot yacht out of Florida, they planned to spend several weeks, and possibly an entire year, sailing the tropics under the skilled hand of Julian Harvey, a decorated war veteran. But early in their sailing vacation, tragedy struck.

According to Harvey’s testimony at a Coast Guard hearing, a violent storm crippled the Bluebelle and she went down.  When Harvey was rescued, he had the dead body of 7-year-old Rene Duperrault with him, which he claimed he found floating in the water shortly after abandoning ship. Everyone else aboard was presumed lost at sea. But four days after the tragedy, 11-year-old Terry Jo was found floating on a cork raft, miraculously still alive. After hearing the news of Terry Jo’s survival, Harvey committed suicide, calling his entire testimony into question since Terry Jo was the only person alive who could corroborate or refute his account of the events of that fateful night.

From her hospital bed, Terry Jo gave her account of the events that led to the ship sinking and the death of her entire family. Her testimony was in direct contrast to that of Harvey. Not everyone believed the young girl, but based on her recollection of events and the murky details that emerged concerning Harvey’s sordid past, a plausible theory of murder and fraud emerged.

This is quite a gripping real-life mystery. Unfortunately for those who like all the ends tied up neatly, we will never know exactly what happened to the Bluebelle, Terry Jo’s family and Harvey’s wife. An amazing story of survival, I was glad to see Terry find peace after tragedy. The author seems a bit redundant at times, repeating on several occasions the same information, but for the most part it kept my attention. Although not written specifically for young adults, I think this true story would interest a young person.

Language: 3

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: A Conspiracy of Kings ( The Queen’s Thief, Book 4)

Author: Megan Whalen Turner

Ratings Explanation

Language: Hell and damn are the most common words used in various phrases.  Exclamations of deity are also frequent.  Bastard is used a handful of times.  Ass and SOB are used once.  Several references to swearing are made like, “I screamed every curse I’d ever practiced” and “swearing a blue streak.”

Violence:  Sophos says, “The sword slid through him and I found for the first time how easy it is to kill a man.”  Sophos pulls the sword out after hitting the bone.  Someone tries to strangle someone else.  Sophos is beaten and left hurt and swollen.  There is fighting with knives and punching in the face.  Someone stabs a horse in the belly.  There is sword training.  Men are shot and die.

Adult Themes: There is drinking of wine several times.  Sophos is sold into slavery and works with other slaves for quite some time.  Political unrest and internal wars are the basis for this book.

Synopsis

Sophos is the young heir to the throne of Sounis.  His lack of desire for political and defensive learning embarrasses his father who sends him to a remote villa to live with his mother and sisters.  He continues his tutoring there until one day the villa is attacked and Sophos is taken prisoner and forced into slavery.  During the time Sophos spends working as a slave, he matures both physically and mentally.  He determines to take control and fight for his country.  Sophos seeks the help and advice of his friends, the King and Queen of Attolia.  And from the book jacket, ”Across the small peninsula battles are fought, bribes are offered and conspiracies are set in motion.  Darkening the horizon, the Mede Empire threatens, always, from across the sea.  And Sophos, anonymous and alone, bides his time.  Sophos, drawing on his memories of Gen, Pol, the magus-and Eddis-sets out on an adventure that will change all of their lives forever.”

This is easily one of the best series of books I’ve read.  I love the characters and I love how Turner weaves a story.  I missed Eugenides in this book as the story mostly focuses on Sophos, but it was still a great adventure with an ending that I didn’t expect.  The storyline is easy to follow, yet complex.  I was engrossed from beginning to end.   At one point the word Contrariwise is used.  I love this word!  I’ve never actually seen it in a book before.  I think I remember it being in a Winnie the Pooh movie though.

My problem with these books is the language.  7^th grade and up seems to be the generally recommended reading level.  I would disagree based solely on the language content.  I would recommend an upper high school level for this book.

Language: 4

Violence: 3.5

Sexual Content: 3.5

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Nightshade

Author: Andrea Cremer

This review refers to an Advanced Reading Copy. Nightshade will be available for purchase October 2010.

Ratings Explanation

Language: Almost every swear word was used in this book, multiple times.  Hell, damn and ass were  used in many various ways and phrases.  Crude language such as “piss me off”, whore and “sucks” were used.  Expressions of deity were frequent.  Someone makes an obscene gesture.

Violence: A bear attacks a boy.  He is left bleeding and almost dead.  The boy drinks the wolf girl’s blood.  Shay and Calla are attacked by two men.  Calla kills one and leaves the other injured.  There are references to the torture of prisoners.  Calla is hurt and drinks pack blood to heal herself.  There is a fight in the bar and a table is thrown on its side, glass breaking.  Shay and Calla are attacked by a giant spider.  Calla tears its legs off and Shay hits it with ice axes.  Calla is bit and the venom starts eating her body away.  Calla bites Shay to turn him to wolf and then drinks his blood to save herself.  Calla and Shay hunt animals to eat.  The wolf pack hunts together and kills a deer.  It is described in detail.  Shay is tied up and blindfolded.  Calla and Shay fight a succubus and kill it.  They are attacked by incubus, chimera and succubi.  Searchers burst into room breaking glass which cuts Calla and Shay’s skin.  Wraiths attack.  Searchers plunge syringe into Shay’s neck.  Calla is hit with a crossbow arrow.

Sexual Content:   Close contact, kissing and touching are frequent.  “His fingers kneaded my hips”, “exploring the curve of my thigh”.  There is kissing and “wanting more”.  His hands go beneath her dress, her shirt is open, his hands move up her thighs.  Ren wants more sexually from Calla but Calla wants to wait for the union.  Calla strips off her shirt and bra, the corset makes bursting cleavage.  There is flirting and kissing.  One of the wolves is gay and the other wolves take sides for and against.  Sexual favors are demanded from those higher in ranks.  One girl gives them to save another girl from having to.  Kissing and touching on the bed, unbuttoning dress.  Calla describes “warm” feelings in her abdomen.  Several references are made to “boobs”.

Adult Themes: There is under-age drinking and smoking, as well as adult drinking and smoking.  One girl is given a drug in her drink that makes her act sexually aggressive.  Men in higher ranks demand sexual favors from those below them, male and female.  Same sex relationships are discussed.  Human sacrifices are performed at certain times of the year.

Synopsis

Calla is the leader of her pack of shape shifting wolves called Nightshades.  Their job is that of Guardians.  Calla awaits the night of her union to the other pack’s leader, Ren, which will unite the two packs as one.  The Guardians are in charge of protecting the sacred land for the Keepers.  This is what they were born to do.  In return, the Keepers provide them with everything they want and need.  One day as Calla is patrolling the sacred lands, she finds a boy, Shay, being attacked by a bear.  For some reason she is drawn to him and decides to save him.  Calla next sees Shay at school and from there a friendship begins.  Calla is ordered by the Keepers to protect Shay, but she doesn’t know why.  This gives Calla the opportunity to spend time with Shay without retribution from her pack or the Keepers because the wolves do not mix with humans, and Shay is human.  Shay begins to dig deeper into the rules and reasons for Calla’s world, pulling Calla into the mysteries.  The answers they find become more and more disturbing and a matter of life and death.

I was literally drawn into this book from the very first page.  The story moves quickly and I was caught up in it.  There were many similarities for me to the Twilight books.  I felt connected to the characters, liking and disliking them, wishing good things for them.  I was intrigued by the moon phases and the symbols at the beginning of each chapter.  I knew they had something to do with the story but I didn’t know what.  It took awhile to find out the meaning behind the symbols, but I still want to know why one or another appears randomly and what it has to do with the events in each chapter.  This is a thick book, which I always love when the story is good.  Having said all that, I was so disappointed in the level of sexual content and language in this book.  So much of it was just unnecessary.  If you have a great story, it will still be a great story without all the language and sexual content.  This book leaves you hanging in the end with no resolution, only a hope for the next book to come.  I would recommend this as an adult book, not a children’s book.  I would keep the reader level above high school level.

Language: 3

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: School’s Out Forever (Maximum Ride, Book 2)

Author: James Patterson

Ratings Explanation

Language: Frequent profanity, occasional swearing and some crude words like “piss” and “crap”.

Violence: As in the first book,  Erasers and the Flock battle repeatedly with kicking, hitting, slashing with claws, etc. Fang and Ari are both brutally beaten. During training, Ari hits his opponents over the head and back with a long, thick stick. As both species can fly they fight in the air using round house kicks and flying side kicks. Hand-to-hand combat. Ari bits his own arm in anguish and rips a bite out of Angel’s arm. Max strangles her opponent but stops before killing her. Gazzy and Iggy blow things up but no one is hurt.

Sexual Content: Fang and a girl kiss and he slides his hands up her back. Max and Sam kiss. He puts his arms around her waist.

Adult Themes: Ari is jealous of his father’s affection for the Flock. Ari steals a Game Boy. More than anything, the Flock wants to find their real parents and live normal lives. They are able to locate Iggy’s  real parents and he goes to live with them, but they eventually want to exploit him for money. The Flock is betrayed by Anne.

Synopsis

This second installment in the Maximum Ride series finds the Flock still on the run and fighting the Erasers, but their lives change dramatically when Anne, an FBI agent, takes them into her home.  Although, they are not completely certain they can trust her, life sure is easier knowing they have somewhere to sleep and three meals a day.

Having a home doesn’t cure Max’s headaches though, and she still hears The Voice in her head telling her she has to save the world. That’s kind of a lot of pressure since The Voice doesn’t tell her how or from what. And finding their real parents is still a priority for all six of the kids, so things get complicated when they actually find Iggy’s parents and they want him to live with them. It’s another great Maximum Ride so hang on!

James Patterson can write a page turner, but, like Angel Experiment,  I think the violence and language are a little heavy for the younger end of the 6-10 grade spectrum suggested by Library Journal and Booklist. My favorite part of book 2, as with book 1, is Max’s character. She is one tough chick, but so tender with her little flock. I really like her.

Language: 1

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 2.5

Adult Themes: 0

Title: Heist Society
Author: Ally Carter

Ratings Explanation

Language: The term “sucks” is used.

Sexual Content: Kat walks into a room where Hale is in bed.   He says, “I could be naked in here.”  Several references are made to skirts being too short and lots of leg showing.  There is a section where the kids talk about Kat’s boobs.  “When did you get boobs?”  “Those boobs are new.”  A boy tries to touch her boobs and Kat hits his hand away.  Nick kisses Kat.  “Neither Bugshaw even tried to look down her shirt.”

Synopsis

Kat’s world is a world of thievery and lies.  It’s a family thing.  In an attempt to escape and lead a more normal life, she enrolls in a private school.  The world she tried to leave pulls her back as she tries to save her dad who has been wrongly accused of stealing valuable and rare artwork.   Kat’s only option is to track down the artwork and steal it back.  An impossible task is put in front of her, one only a masterful thief can accomplish.  In two weeks, with the help of her friends, she must pull off the biggest heist ever.

I enjoyed reading this book.  It was fluffy fun, nothing too deep.  It didn’t cause me to sit back and think and it didn’t evoke much emotion.  But, it was light, easy reading and that is nice to have every now and then.  This book had a sort of Robin Hood feel to it as Kat steals from the thief to give back to those who lost it.  (A couple thefts ago…)  I’m not sure this is 6th grade reading material.  I would keep this book in the high school range.

Language: 0

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Content: 1

Title: Savannah From Savannah

Author: Denise Hildreth

Ratings Explanation

Adult Themes: Savannah breaks into an office and makes copies of personal papers in order to construct a case against the beauty pageant director.

Synopsis

Savannah Phillips has graduated from college, completed a graduate degree and won a literary contest which includes a book deal. She has achieved all of her dreams so far, but when she discovers that her somewhat meddling mother had a hand in her winning the writing contest, she has a decision to make. In order to prove her independence and integrity, she declines the award and returns home to Savannah, Georgia. She lands a job at the local newspaper and, although it doesn’t pay as much as a book deal, jumps in with both feet, devoting herself to her new job.

The story Savannah chooses to pursue could have personal implications as she investigates the possible rigging of the Miss Georgia United States of America beauty pageant. Years ago, Savannah’s mother, Victoria, was crowned Miss Georgia United States of America and Savannah wonders how Victoria will react if it is discovered that her own mother did not win the crown fair and square.

The best recommendation for this book is that there is absolutely nothing objectionable in it. I enjoyed Savannah’s love of her home town. Her feelings about Savannah reminded me of the way I feel about the town where I grew up. There were some amusing descriptions of her larger-than-life mother and  some touching scenes when Savannah learns to appreciate her parents, but all in all, Savannah from Savannah is a very mediocre book. It is the first in a series, but I will not be reading the other books. I labeled it high school because I don’t think it would be interesting for younger readers.

Language-2.5

Violence-2

Sexual Content-1

Adult Themes- 1

Title: Catherine and the Pirate
Author: Karen Hawkins

Ratings Explanation

Language: Hell and damn in various forms and phrases are used. The word bastard is also used.

Violence:  There is a fight between two ships. Cannons are shot, people die. There is hand to hand combat with swords and fists. People are taken prisoner. Catherine’s brother is being held hostage. They try to rescue him. Someone is shot and dies. A dog attacks a person.

Sexual Content: Catherine thinks of how she wants to be kissed and feel his lips on hers. There are a couple kisses.

Adult Themes:  Catherine’s brother is drugged while he is held hostage. Bribery, betrayal, treason and piracy are main themes in this book.

Synopsis

Catherine comes from a wealthy, prominent family in Boston. When her parents die, she is left to run her family home while her brother runs the family shipping business. Catherine learns that her brother has been captured and is being held for ransom. She decides that she will try to rescue him. Derrick St. John is the man Catherine goes to for help. Derrick has spent his life at sea, and now captains his own ship. Together they embark on a quest that leads them through many adventures and ultimately to love.

This was a teen romance book in every sense. I read through it quickly. It was predictable but sweet. As is always my opinion, I think the book would have been better without the language referred to above. I picked this book up with my 12 year old daughter in mind, trying to find a new series of books for her to read. The language will be the reason I do not pass this book on to her.

Language:  5

Violence:  2

Sexual Content:  3

Adult Themes:  4

Title:  Cannery Row

Author:  John Steinbeck

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Every foul word is spewed by characters in Cannery Row.  Extensive profanity; language that is crude (whores, pimps, pisspots) and derogatory (wops, Polaks, “ching chong Chinaman”, etc.)  The f-word, spelled differently, is also used.

Violence:  Drunkards get into several fights and knock out teeth, bloody faces, break windows, and destroy Doc’s laboratory.  The bouncer at the local house of prostitution throws a bum out and breaks his back.  A drunken man has a hallucination of a baby’s throat being slashed.  A man’s wife beats him; he retaliates.

Sexual Content:  The whorehouse on Cannery Row and the girls who work there are mentioned often, along with the business they conduct, but not in detail.  Mack and the boys discuss how often Doc, who runs the laboratory, has women stay overnight at his place whether or not he needs a dame.  Henri the painter has had several different women live with him on his boat.  The sex life of sea creatures is scientifically detailed, with reference to sperm, ova, semen, and eggs.  A short discussion on the Model T Ford, and how “Two generations of Americans knew more about the Ford coil than the clitoris,” and that “most of the babies of the period were conceived in Model T Fords and not a few were born in them.”

Adult Themes:  Abundant references to alcohol and tobacco; the characters drown their sorrows in liquor.  Someone observes that “a man got just as drunk on half a glass as on a whole one, that is, if he was in the mood to get drunk at all.”  Dora, the whorehouse mistress, takes good care of her girls and won’t kick them out, even if they “won’t turn three tricks a month but still eat three meals a day.”  A man heavy in debt and depression shoots himself in the head; another man commits suicide with an ice pick to the chest.  An abused, mentally disabled 11-year-old boy breaks a store window and steals a clock to show Doc he loves him.  While collecting sea specimens on the shore, Doc discovers a dead girl’s body floating among the rocks.  The prevailing storyline is about people leading dissolute lives.

Synopsis

In the opening paragraph of this classic book, Steinbeck describes Cannery Row in 1940s Monterey, California as “a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of life, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.”  Then he goes on to describe its inhabitants, who are a dichotomy: whores, bums, gamblers, drunks, and sons of b—–es, but also saints, angels, martyrs, and holy men.  Steinbeck paints with a true artist’s skill and eye for detail the humanity of these people, their interactions with one another, their ignorance and downfalls and dissolute lives, their good intentions and dreams and ability to survive.  There is Mack, the elder and leader of a group of bums who have in common “no families, no money, and no ambitions beyond food, drink, and contentment.”  There is Doc, the owner of Western Biological Laboratory, who remains a constant on Cannery Row, the man to whom both the bums and Dora’s girls turn for companionship, advice, and an occasional dollar to buy a drink.  And there is Dora, proprietor of the Bear Claw, who “keeps an honest, one-price house” and takes good care of her girls who in turn take care of everyone else (it is Dora’s girls who take hot soup to and nurse back to health all the families in Monterey during the influenza epidemic.)  The book cannot be pinned down to a plot, rather, it is a commentary on life and the successes and failures, happiness and despair which come to those residents of Cannery Row.  Steinbeck studied marine biology, and in his detailed descriptions of the marine life inhabiting the tidepools on the California coast there are echoes of the lives of his Cannery Row characters.

John Steinbeck was a master at illustrating the frailties of human nature.  His story in Cannery Row is no exception and is why it is considered a classic, but like most of his books, the reader may feel weighed down with such heavy subject matter and flawed characters who repeatedly mess up their lives.  Well-written and a worthwhile read, but definitely for a mature audience.  I would hesitate having my high schooler read this, not so much out of a virtuous desire to protect him from the subject matter (okay, maybe a little) as much as the idea that a teenager (hopefully) hasn’t experienced enough life to really understand some of Steinbeck’s commentary.

Language:  1

Violence:  2

Adult Themes:  2

Sexual Content:  2

Title:  The Hourglass Door

Author:  Lisa Mangum

Ratings Explanation

Language:  The words “hell” (“Go to hell”) and “hellish” used only a few times.  “Damnation” used once in a poem.

Violence:  Zo slashes Dante across his arm with a switchblade; blood soaks his shirt.  Abby slaps Zo as hard as she can; he gets very physically aggressive but doesn’t hurt her.  A few intense fight-like scenes by the riverbank. 

Adult Themes:  The rock band Zero Hour intentionally projects the same effect on its audience as drugs would; people experience emotional highs, lows, and hangovers from its intensity.  Dante and the band members are all accused or convicted war criminals from 16th century Italy.  At the Dungeon, a teenage hangout, the owner Leo gives Abby a drink concocted of mysterious ingredients that have a profound effect on her mind and psyche. 

Sexual Content:  Nothing beyond a kiss, however, Dante and Abby exchange many and they are described in intimate (albeit cliche) detail:  “…he kissed me,  his lips at once hard and fierce and yet still gentle and insistent.”  “I could taste the softness of his lips. . . I ran my fingers through the curls at the nape of his neck into his hair at the same time he slid his hands down to lock at the small of my back.  His fingers left tracks of heat in their wake.”  etc.  A lot of that going on.  In the scene where Dante is slashed, he removes his shirt in front of Abby, and she “drank in the sight of his long, lean body.”

Synopsis

Abby Edmunds seems to have the quaint, perfect life going on:  good family, good grades, nice boyfriend who lives next door, but it’s all a little bit too predictable for her.  Then one day, a mysterious, tall, dark, and exotically handsome exchange student from Italy walks into her life.  Meet Dante Alexander, who seems to be the polar opposite of her boyfriend, Jason.  He is spontaneous and charismatic and speaks with an accent, and Abby can’t help feeling attracted to him.  Time literally seems to stop when she is with him.  But Dante is hiding some dark secret, and Abby is willing to risk the status quo to find out what it is:  that Dante is actually an exiled prisoner from 16th century Italy who apprenticed with Leonardo da Vinci.  Under da Vinci’s tutelage, Dante learned the secret to the most dangerous thing da Vinci [supposedly] ever invented, a time machine through which the Italian government sent war criminals into the future to be punished.  Now Dante, who was wrongly convicted, is living in 2009 and trying to stop three other Italian thugs, members of a rock band named Zero Hour, from finding a way back through the time-space continuum and changing history.  But he is also inlove with Abby, who happens to hold the key to unlocking the Hourglass Door back through time.

The storyline here is a familiar one: boy meets girl, boy is hiding some unfathomable secret, girl unlocks secret, girl can’t help falling inlove and risking everything to help boy overcome his demons (real or otherwise).  Yet even with such a familiar premise, Ms. Mangum’s first book is intriguing enough to keep the reader turning the pages and ending on a cliffhanger note, tempting you with the sequel.  The romance hovers dangerously close to the cheese factor, however, for me.  By book’s end I had had more than my fair share of intertwining fingers and lips and penetrating gazes.   The Hourglass Door is part one in a three-part trilogy (book two, The Golden Spiral, was released in May 2010). 

Language: 0

Violence:2

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  Matched

Author:  Ally Condie

*This review refers to an advanced copy.  Matched will be available for purchase November 30, 2010.

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  The townspeople themselves experience no violence in their society.  They do watch a film which shows a person being shot. Blood stains his shirt and he falls to the ground.  This is so surreal to the audience that they laugh.  Cassia hears stories of poisoned rain and rivers which kill people.  She also learns of Ky’s past from pictures he has drawn showing him holding the words “mother” and “father” in his arms shaped like drooping dead bodies.  Pictures of the officials in these drawings show red hands representing their responsibility in what has happened.

Sexual Content:  Cassia remembers  playing kissing games as a young child.  She is relieved to know her match so that she can finally think of him with more romantic thoughts.  Xander and Cassia kiss after a recreational activity.  Cassia describes the feeling as “sweet”.  She and Xander hold hands and hug.  Cassia begins to have feelings for Ky after she has been matched to Xander.  She and Ky find opportunities to hold hands.  Cassia has a strong desire to kiss Ky but knows what it will do to Xander and her family.  Cassia finally gives in and kisses Ky.  It is all that she had hoped.  As part of Society rules, the optimal age for citizens to conceive, resulting in healthy offspring, is discussed.

Adult themes:  Cassia lives in a society where the government makes all of the hard decisions and leaves their citizens with few opportunities to make choices of their own.  This appears safe at first, but through major life changing experiences, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s rules. One of these was the mandatory death of her grandfather, at which she was present.  Cassia is provided with many opportunities to succeed in her society but chooses to go against them.

Synopsis

Cassia has always trusted the Society.  They are never wrong.  They choose what you eat, what you wear, who you marry and when you die.  Life has been better for everyone since the Society has been in control.  Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she will attend her Match Banquet to find out who she will marry.  When her best friend Xander’s picture shows up on the screen she is surprised and relieved.  It is uncommon for a person to know who their match is, but she has known Xander her whole life and loves him dearly.  When Cassia gets home and puts in the computer chip to view background information on her match, a strange thing happens.  Xander’s picture comes up and then the screen goes black.  For a split second another face shows up on the screen.  Even stranger, is that it is a picture of another person she knows, Ky.  Cassia is puzzled.  How could this happen?  Was she really supposed to be matched with Xander? Throughout the summer Cassia finds opportunities to be with Ky and learns that he has come from the outer province areas where he lost his parents.  He also knows how to write something that has not been taught for generations.  Cassia asks him to teach her.  This is stepping on shaky ground and could get them both into serious trouble.  As Cassia spends more time with Ky she wonders why there is so little creating and ability to make choices in their world.  She begins to question all that the Society does to ensure happy productive lives for it’s citizens.  Cassia must now decide between the safety of being with Xander, whom she has always loved, or Ky who helps her to feel alive, real and free.  It is a decision that will change their world.

This is a must read.  Not only is Matched a touching love story, but it examines the very basis of what makes us happy and gives us purpose.  It will leave you thinking and grateful for all you have and all that you can be.

Language: 0

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Canticle Kingdom

Author:  Michael Young

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Girl in Nazi concentration camp is hit and taken in for beatings. Johann is attacked by a werewolf. Brigitta and Johann are attacked by snakes and creatures. “Creatures claws tore at her flesh, ripping large gashes…and sending lances of pain throughout her body.” Monster raises knife over Gwen. The floorboards and walls are streaked with blood. There are a LOT of sword fights, battles, and creature attacks; more than can be listed here. Guards beat prisoners. Rufus stabs a creature in the heart with a jagged shard of poison-stained glass. Karsten is run through with a sword and then extracts the sword from his chest, “crimson blood dripping.” “With a mighty heave and a keen eye, he launched the sword at his brother, impacting him directly in the center of his chest.”

Adult Themes: Nazi concentration camps are mentioned. There is magic, black magic and sorcery. Death and a sort of afterlife are referred to.

Summary

Two German brothers create a music box that holds a magical kingdom inside. Through time the music box somehow gets passed through many different people and places. People mysteriously disappear when listening to this music box. Inside the box, the Canticle Kingdom resides. The Kingdom is being attacked by an evil, dark power. The Queen falls ill and it is up to a few loyal subjects inside and outside the music box to help to save the kingdom.

I had a really hard time getting through this book. It was confusing and disjointed. Many things made no sense to me at all. It wasn’t until chapter 9 that I started getting a few explanations. Now, I understand ” keep the reader guessing”, and mystery and all of that, but this was really just confusing. I found many of the characters and their actions unbelievable. So many times there would be fighting and someone would be injured terribly, like a sword stuck in their chest. The character is near death, bleeding and almost ready to pass out and then they would proceed to pull out the sword and continue fighting. For a long time. In my notes I wrote, “How many times can one dude fall on his back, have bruised ribs and feel like he was dying and then get up and do it all again?” In the end, I didn’t have any real feelings for any of the characters. I’m not sure if it was the style of writing that made it so hard for me, or if the writing just lacked development. I think the story idea is good. On the up side, there was no foul language or sexual content. There was a fair bit of violence though. I laughed at the end when I read this next part because it summed up almost exactly how I felt about this whole book. “Capt. Edison tried to explain what was going on to his wife the best he could but found that he scarcely understood it himself.”

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language-0

Violence-1

Sexual Content-1

Adult Themes-0

Title:  A Posse of Princesses

Author: Sherwood Smith

Ratings Explanation

Violence: There is sword training. Many kids carry around swords and knives. Princess Rhis is held as a hostage in a tower with guards watching her. People are ready to fight, but peace agreements are made.

Sexual Content: The girls talk about flirting and kissing several different times. Rhis remembers kissing the cooks nephew. There is a kiss at the end of the book.

Summary

Rhis is the youngest princess of a small but wealthy kingdom called Nym. She loves writing ballads and dreaming away in her tower room. She is invited along with many other princes and princesses to a coming of age party for Lios, the Crown Prince of Vesarja. Princess Rhis has never been to such an event and is excited and wary. She meets new people and makes new friends. In the process she learns much about herself and the lessons of life. Rhis and her new group of friends band together for an adventure to rescue a princess who has been abducted.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I am happy to say that as soon as I finished it, I handed it to my 12 year old and said, “you can read this book!” Princess Rhis displays many typical 16 year old traits, but her heart and actions are kind and good. I loved her story. It is sweet and innocent. Rhis learns about friendship, politics, magic and love. Here are a couple of my favorite parts of the book. “People are surprising, she thought, even the ones you think you know.” “Why is it that the prettiest flowers don’t have the prettiest scents? The nicest scents seem to belong to the smallest blossoms. Or the plainest. And that wonderful one over there, with the blue and lavender petals, which I think the prettiest plant in the garden, smells like moldering grass. Phah!” “I don’t know, but I suspect it’s because the big, bright ones don’t have to compete so hard for the attention of the bees and butterflies. The little ones put out the powerful aromas to get their share of attention. A lot like people.”

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 3

Sexual Content: 4

Violence: 4

Adult Themes: 3

Title: The Last Song
#1 New York Times Bestseller

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Ratings Explanation

Language: “Hell”,  “Whatever”?  It’s just a code word for the f-word, follow by “you”.

Sexual Content: Reference to PMS – “Pissed-at-Men-Syndrome”.  Sexual Innuendo.  The male volleyball players were “eye candy”.  Ashley, the bikini clad blond, zeroes in on Will.  Ronnie is attracted to Will.  ”Marcus walked over to Blaze and folded her into a long, lingering kiss that seemed wildly inappropriate in public.”   Blaze nibbles on Marcus’ neck, he ignores that.  ”He was sick of the way she (Blaze) always hung on him whenever they were out in public.  Sick of her in general.  If she weren’t so good in bed, if she didn’t know the things that really turned him on, he would have dumped her a month ago for one of the three of four or five other girls he regularly slept with.”  Marcus has his eye on Ronnie, she was “sort of upscale, trampy style”.   Marcus admired “that dynamite little body.”  Ronnie takes a quick peek at Marcus and he wonders what she’d be like in bed.  ”Probably wild, most of them were with the right kind of encouragement.”   Will’s ex-girlfriend, Ashley suggests that Will join Scott and Cassie at her house, since her parents were in Raleigh.  Scott tries to persuade Will to go to Ashley’s house, to “Free Willy”.  Scott suggests just hooking up with Ashley.  Marcus suggests that Blaze was telling Ronnie about her mother’s sexy boyfriend and their late night trapeze acts.  Lance’s job at the motel is to clean the sheets after the noontime crowd rolls through.  Ronnie wants to sleep outside by the turtle egg’s nest, with Will.  However, she knows her father will object.  Will and Ronnie kiss, multiple times.   Marcus is drunk.  ”He’d have Blaze first and then maybe a couple of others after that, if he got Blaze ripped enough to pass out.  Or maybe he’d hook up with some dumb little hottie, even if Blaze was sober enough to realize what was happening.”  Hot and heavy make-out session.  Ronnie says they’ve got to stop.  Ronnie loves Will,  ”She wanted her first time to mean something, to happen with someone she cared deeply about.”

Violence: “Illegal Fireworks Suspected in Church Blaze – Pastor Injured”,  Ronnie’s friend Kayla is “Date Raped”.  GHB was slipped into her drink, and she vaguely recalls being in a room with three guys, she had just met.  Three rough guys, and one girl, Blaze, play with fire.  Marcus knew that the worse he treated girls, the more they wanted him.  Marcus throws a fireball at Ronnie to see how far he can push her.  Marcus set a boat on fire and watched it burn.  Teddy and Lance stole booze, and beat a bald guy unconscious at the airport before taking his wallet.  They also painted swastikas on the synagogue.  Marcus wants violence.  Blaze sprays roundup on Mrs. Banderson’s flowers, which slowly kills them.   One of Blaze’s mom’s boyfriends sneaked into Blaze’s room at night.  Marcus follows Ronnie.  Ronnie realized that there is a difference between a psychopath and a sociopath.  She thinks Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs, has a lot in common with Marcus.  Ronnie threatens Ashley, “I’m going to punch those bleached teeth right out of  your mouth.  Got it?”  Blaze’s shirt catches fire at one of their “shows” on the boardwalk.

Adult Themes: Ronnie is arrested twice for shoplifting.  A reference to the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin’s death.  According to Ronnie, her father, Steve, walked out on their family.  According to her mother, Ronnie would rather spend her time hanging out in clubs. “Steve believes he is a failure.  He is forty-eight years old.  His marriage had ended, and his son was growing up without him.”  Ronnie has the usual signs of teenage rebellion, purple streaks in her hair, and black fingernail polish.  Kim, Ronnie’s mother rants, “You could have come back to New York again.  You didn’t have to travel around the country, you didn’t have to move here…you could have stayed part of their lives.”   Infidelity, Kim cheated on Steve.  Reference to Ronni’s mom almost blowing a gasket when Ronnie lied about where she was going and traveled from New York to Philadelphia with Rick, a rough guy, who had a tattoo of a spiderweb on his neck and more piercings in his ears than her friend, Kayla.  Ronnie dumps Rick, when she realizes that if she continues to see him, he will pressure her to take whatever drugs he is taking.  Some of Ronnie’s friends smoke pot, a few have done cocaine, ecstasy, or even meth.  Blaze explains that her Dad lives with his girlfriend, his third since the divorce.  The girlfriend is only a few years older than Blaze, and she is a stripper.  Blaze’s mother has a boyfriend, and he is a loser.  Beer drinking.  Blaze is kicked out of her mother’s home, and she asks Ronnie for food money.  When Steve’s father died, Steve told him he loved him, and his response was, ” You sound like a woman when you talk like that.”  Marcus was bad news for Blaze, and for Ronnie.  Ronnie stereotypes southerner’s as “wearing NASCAR hat and chewing tobacco.”  Steve’s face is covered with blood. He has stomach cancer.

Summary

Ronnie, a nearly eighteen year old girl, is sent to North Carolina with her younger brother to spend the summer with her estranged father.  She has not communicated with her father, Steve, since her parents’ divorce.  She believes her father walked out on the family.  Ronnie rejects her father’s attempts to befriend her, and threatens to return to New York.  She immediately befriends a rough crowd of friends. She then falls for Will Blakelee, a privileged local boy.  Ronnie experiences her first “summer romance”.  When everything seems perfect, she realizes that her father has been given a death sentence –stomach cancer.  Ronnie spends the fall caring for him until his death.

I was disappointed with the overt sexuality and violence that consumed the first half of book.   However, the latter half redeemed the trashy portion and  I loved the beautiful story of the father/daughter relationship.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 2

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes: 1

Title:  Specials

(Book Number Three)

Author: Scott Westerfield

Ratings Explanation

Language:  ”The plan is we kick their asses.”   “What the hell for?”  ”Bad-ass friends.”  ”You don’t give a damn about Fausto?”  ”The New Smoke wasn’t some hidden encampment in the wild, where people crapped into holes…”  ”the New System sucks”  ”Crap”.

Violence:  Tally does not want to kill David.  She wants to see him tamed and turned into a bubblehead, pretty and clueless and out of her life once and for all.   There are references to the self-mutilation found in book two.  ”Breaking out of bubble-headedness with nothing but a sharp knife against her own skin”.   Shay is given a jolt from a shock-stick by David.  Tally saves Shay from drowning in the river.  Shay suggests to Tally that she might just need a cut to help her think clearly.  Shay uses her knife to cut the palm of Tally’s hand.  Shay and Tally break into the armory, and let loose “Hunger in nano form”, which eats and destroys everything in its path. Hovercrafts follow Shay and Tally to the city limits, bombarding them with grenades.  Tally and Fausto engage in hand to hand combat as he tries to inject her with a needle.  The “New Smoke”/ City of Diego and The Armada go to war.  Zane dies.  Tally reflects on the deaths she has witnessed.  Tally kicks Dr. Cable in the stomach, and does a roundhouse kick into the jaw of her closest pursuer.

Sexual Content:  ”Shay brushes against the random boy, a flex of muscles gliding down her body like a flick through a rope.  His body starting to follow her movements.”  Tally is jealous as she sees David brush fingers with a Smokey girl.  ”That was his thing: going around recruiting uglies to run away, seducing the best and the smartest city kids with the promise of rebellion.”   Tally climbs the island’s slopes through a pleasure garden.  Tally and Zane kiss.  She is repulsed by his weakness as an unspecial and barely average.  Tally’s clothes are stripped off of her, as she is lifted into an operating tank.

Adult Themes:  Revolution.  Beer consumption.  Shay and Tally are still pitted against one another.  Shay’s anger and jealousy have not disappeared.

Summary

Tally was not positive that “Specials” actually existed.  Now, transformed into a special Special, she is one of them –a Cutter.  Dr. Cable engineers Tally to be a weapon, to root out rebellion.  Her body has been reconstructed around a reinforced ceramic skeleton.  Her fingernails and teeth have been weaponized, and her muscles and reflex centers significantly augmented.  She is a member of “The Cutters”.  Shay, the leader of The Cutters, is given orders to find the “New Smoke”, the rebel’s hideout.  Tally and Shay  break into the armory and let loose an ancient weapon, “Hunger in nano form”.  Dr. Cable leads the city to believe that they are under attack from the rebels.  She is then given control of the military.  Shay and Tally find the “New Smoke” and choose to defend the “New Smoke” against Dr. Cable’s diabolical plan to rule the world.

I really enjoyed the FIRST book in this series.  However, the strong moral values you receive in the first book are completely obliterated in the subsequent installments. This story just fizzled out.  I am very concerned with the “cutting/self-mutilation”.  I do not recommend this book for the age group it is marketed to (Grades 6-10).  However, should you choose to read this book, proceed with caution.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 3

Sexual Content:0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Surviving Antarctica Reality TV 2083

Author: Andrea White

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Four common swear words and four uses of the name of deity.

Violence:  The government uses Court TV as the judicial system.  Criminals are considered terrorists and have no human rights.  Near drownings, beating and sometimes crucifixion is used as punishment.  A young woman was beaten because she tried to help a dying contestant on a Reality TV show.  Many contestants are allowed to be maimed, injured, suffer disease and are even killed as part of the entertainment.  A horse is eaten by a killer whale.  It’s blood and guts float in the water.  A seal is shot for food.  The pony is killed by the hungry dogs.  A survivor’s toes are frostbitten, amputation is considered.

Adult Themes:  Children being used on a survival show for the entertainment of the masses.  TV has become the crime deterrent and educator.  A contestant has lost both parents.  A young man must decide whether or not to intervene with the government to save the contestants and stand up for their rights.

Synopsis

In the year 2083,  our nation’s government has turned to television to fight crime and educate the masses.  All programming is meant to be so captivating that citizens will be glued to their screens instead of looking for trouble.  To boost ratings, the Secretary of Entertainment has decided to use children as contestants in her next installment of the TV hit, Survival. This series has contestants literally fighting for their lives while reliving history through episodes such as The Alamo, World War II and The Plague. This time, five 14-year-olds have been chosen to relive Robert F. Scott’s 1912 expedition to the South Pole  (this was a real expedition and selected entries of Scott’s journal are used throughout the story).  What they don’t know is that they will be all alone without a camera crew.  To save the lives of her crew, the Secretary has had cameras implanted into one of the eyes of each contestant, unbeknownst to them.  She has also scripted several catastrophes to mimic the original expedition as well as help boost ratings.  As the children embark on their journey, they encounter all of Antarctica’s beauty and danger.  They quickly learn to depend on each others’ skills for survival.  True to her nature,  the Secretary delivers catastrophes and hardships for the contestants. Back home the public becomes enraged as they watch children facing certain death.  An editor named Steve is faced with the opportunity of secretly intervening and must decide whether or not to follow his conscience even if it means being beaten and being sent to prison.  Through the heroic actions of many, the children are rescued and the public is forced to take a good look at their values and government.

I am not a big futuristic fiction fan so this book took me off guard when I found myself still engrossed in it two hours later.  I appreciated how the contestants learned important life lessons and self-reliance as they had to completely depend on each other to survive.  I also liked that Steve had the courage to stand up against terrifying odds to do what he felt was right.  A great book to help young readers examine their values and priorities.

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 2

Title: iDrakula

Author: Bekka Black

*This review refers an Advance Copy. iDrakula will be available for purchase October 2010.

Ratings Explanation

Language: A handful of swear words, one instance of profanity.

Violence: Renfield asks for a kitten to “consume”. Lucy and Renfield bite each other. The count kisses Lucy; she bites him and drinks his blood. Stakes are driven through the  hearts of vampires to kill them.

Sexual Content: Jonathon tells Mina he can think of a “few things we could do in the dark without parents around…” Lucy tells Mina that Renfield bit her, which Mina thinks is gross and unsanitary. “Like sex?” Lucy asks. Jonathon tells Mina, his girlfriend, that he slept with her best friend Lucy. Mina is worried about STDs and asks him to make a list of his partners. The count kisses Mina and she wants it to last forever. He licks the blood off her neck.

Adult Themes: Jonathon gets drunk and thinks he may have made out with the Count’s daughter. He has a hickie and a hangover. The Count turns people into vampires. Mina and Abe must kill Lucy, Mina’s best friend, by driving a stake into her heart. Mina is surprised that she could do it.

Synopsis

While Bram Stoker tells the story of Dracula mainly through journal entries and letters between his characters, this modern take-off utilizes text messages and emails to retell the classic tale. It is a brief retelling, hitting the major points of the original book.

After Renfield’s “phychotic break”, Jonathon travels to Romania in his stead to the Count’s very eerie castle where he finds piles of human bones, empty, deserted rooms and no way to escape but to jump out of his window. When Mina and Jonathon’s’ father manage to get him back home he is deathly ill, supposedly with some rare blood disease. Aided by Abe Van Helsing, Mina unravels the dark mystery that eventually claims more than one life.

I applaud Bekka Black for discovering what really seems to be a natural medium for retelling the classic Dracula. Although short, the reader gets the highlights of the original. Unfortunately, along with the modernization comes added sexuality which I do not remember from Dracula.

Language: 3

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes:  3

Title: The Princess Bride

Author: S. Morgenstern, William Goldman

Ratings Explanation

Language: There is one reference to deity in the Princess Bride itself, but several during Goldman’s storyline interjected throughout the novel or during his editing comments.  Also, two other “major” swear words are used.   There are a couple of derogatory comments referring to the Spanish race.

Violence: With sword fighting between Inigo and the “man in black”, a fight between the giant and the “man in black”, and the revenge sword/knife scene between Inigo and Count Rugen, there is plenty of action.  There is also a kidnapping, a planned murder of the bride, and the use of clubs.

Sexual Content: This mainly occurs in the sequel, “Buttercup’s Baby”.  Buttercup reminds Westley that even though they have “true love”, they have only kissed.  They engage in dialogue discussing the answer to the question, “What else is there?”  Also, Goldman becomes infatuated with Morgenstern’s daughter who is using her feminine charm to entice Goldman to sign legal papers regarding manuscripts.

There is one scene where Count Rugen’s wife lustily looks at Westley in the Princess Bride.

Adult Themes: There are descriptions of Westley’s torture in the Zoo of Death by the prince and Count Rugen. Brandy is drunk excessively by Inigo.  Wine and poison by iocane powder are used during the “battle of wits” between “the man in black” and Vizzini.

Synopsis

The Princess Bride is S. Morgenstern’s classic tale of true love, high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and even some wild beasts.  That’s something for everyone to love!   The original 1000 page story was edited down to 300 by Hollywood screen writer, William Goldman.  The 30th anniversary edition begins with lengthy introductions of how Goldman’s father read the book to young William and why he felt the need to abridge the novel. This edition also includes an abridged version of a Princess Bride sequel, “Buttercup’s Baby”.  Goldman wrote the screenplay for the 1987 movie.  That is why the movie and the book are nearly one and the same (dialogue and all).

The beautiful peasant, Buttercup, loses her true love–Farm-Boy, Westley.  Devastated, she reluctantly agrees to marry Florin’s Prince Humperdinck.  Hoping to start a war with the neighboring country of Guilder, the Prince arranges for Buttercup to be kidnapped by mercenaries.  His plan is foiled when Buttercup is rescued by a mysterious pirate, “the man in black”.  She is returned to the palace, unwillingly marries the Prince and then is saved by the same group who captured her in the first place.  During her adventure she meets Vizzini, a criminal philosopher, Fezzik, a gentle giant, and Inigo, the revengeful Spaniard who seeks to kill the six-fingered Count Rugen, second in command to Prince Humperdinck.

Who doesn’t love a fairytale full of sword fighting, villains, implausible rescues and, most importantly, the greatest motive for heroism—true love?  Girls are magnetized by the power of “true love”.  Boys feed off of the action, the torture in the Zoo of Death, and the feats of revenge.  Or, that’s how it worked out for my kids. Additionally, we all loved the quirky characters.  Of course, when I finished the book, I had to re-watch the movie. But remember, even if Goldman tries to convince us otherwise, “The Princess Bride” is fictitious, as are the “European” countries of Florin and Gilder.

Language: 1

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 5)

Author: Rick Riordan

Ratings Explanation

Language: “gods” used as an exclamation, e.g., “Thank the gods!”

Violence: A large ship explodes, killing many, including a friend of Percy. Percy takes on an entire army in Hades and single-handedly destroys them all. A full-scale battle in Manhattan with Percy and the other half-bloods battling Kronos and his army. In the battle, Percy tries to wound, not kill, the half-bloods who are on Kronos’s side. Destruction of many monsters. Annabeth is stabbed and another beloved half-blood is killed in battle.

Sexual Content: Percy and Annabeth kiss.

Adult Themes: Strained relationships between the gods and their half-blood children. Some are willing to give their lives in order to advance their cause.

Synopsis

In this last installment of the Percy Jackson series, Percy and his friends from Camp Half-Blood prepare for the final battle against Kronos and  his ever-growing army. While the gods are busy fighting the monster Typhon, who is advancing across the U.S., Percy and his army must defend Manhattan and Mount Olympus. Percy finally learns the entire prophecy surrounding his 16th birthday and realizes the gravity of it. It is very possible that he will not survive the fight against Kronos, the Lord of Time. Surrounded by those still loyal to the gods, Percy leads the army in this final conflict.

This was definitely my favorite book of the Percy Jackson series. Percy has always been the kind of hero I like to read about, but his loyalty, strength and bravery were extra-apparent in this book. I especially enjoyed the setting of Manhattan as, coincidentally,  my first visit to The Big Apple coincided with finishing this book. Being there made the descriptions of the city so alive I half expected to see monsters and Greek demi-gods rounding every corner.

My three readers ages 13, 10 and 8 all love this series. The level of content (in all 4 areas that we rate) remains constant throughout the series. I find that an advantage since in some series the content escalates with each book, making it inappropriate for younger readers to complete a series. Overall, I honestly enjoyed Percy and his adventures.

Language: 3

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Swear to Howdy

Author:  Wendelin Van Draanen

Ratings Explanation

Language: “Hurts like hell” is used three times.  “Don’t make me open a can of whup-ass on you, boy.”  Wuss is used a handful of times.  Godforsaken is used once.  “Felt hot as the hinges of hell”.  Phrases that elude to strong language are used like, “mighty hot language”.  There is a lot of talk about farts and “gassers”.  “He let out the biggest, nastiest gasser you can imagine.”  “Teach me….?  To fart?”

Violence: Joey’s dad beats him.  Rusty and Joey shoot guns, first at cans, then at squirrels.  They kill the squirrels.  Joey shoots and accidentally kills the family cat. The boys do a prank that causes a car accident and Joey’s sister dies.  Rusty finds Joey with a gun stuck in his mouth ready to shoot himself.  Joey’s dad is aggressive and mean.  He yells and beats his kids.  Joey and Rusty cut their knuckles and hand to share blood when they promise to keep secrets.

Sexual Content: Joey takes off his pants and underwear to fart in the lake.  A fish bites his “privates”.  He is sore and bruised.

Adult Themes: Child abuse is referred to throughout this book.  Two girls in the book cheat on a final exam.  Because of a car accident, the family members deal with the death of a family member.  The secrets and lies involving the accident lead to a 13-year-old boy getting drunk and “puking his guts out”.  Later, the same boy puts a gun in his mouth and attempts suicide.  The mother and children leave the abusive father.

Synopsis

Rusty Cooper moves into a new town and makes friends with the boy next door, Joey Banks.  Joey’s adventurous nature gets the boys into all sorts of mischief.  Usually the pranks are harmless, like putting bugs in drinks, hiding frogs in drawers or replacing the goldfish that keep dying.  Joey lives in constant fear of his father’s beatings and always makes Rusty “swear to howdy” that he will not tell anyone what they do and then seal it with their blood.  When one prank goes horribly wrong and ends in tragedy, Rusty struggles with keeping the secrets that are darkening his life.

My first impression as I started reading this book was that it was a boy’s dream book full of potty humor and pranks on sisters.  Which personally I don’t find amusing at all, but a whole chapter on farting would probably be very funny to most adolescent boys.   I’m sure my younger brothers would find very amusing the many pranks played on the older sisters in this book.  As the book continues though, the pranks and adventures become more serious and troubling.  The boys are doing bad things, lying and keeping secrets to hide what they do.  Child abuse, guns, death, under-age drinking and suicide are very serious topics that, I think, require parental guidance and discussion.  This book is not a pleasure reading type of book for kids. I found it quite disturbing.  I would recommend keeping this book to high school level readers.

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast

Author: Robin McKinley, Newbery Honor Author

Ratings Explanation

Language: This may not even rate for some but, the word “damning” used as a verb in the following sentence:”To a certain extent this was damning me with faint praise…”

Violence: Talk of desire to kill the magician that cast the spell.

Sexual Content: Beauty’s sister is advised to get married and start a baby. Beauty is kissed by a boy at a dance.

Adult Content: Beauty’s sister loses her fiance in a shipwreck. Beauty is offered ale by the villagers that she has helped. Parents threaten their children with stories of monsters taking them away if they are not obedient.

Synopsis

Beauty’s wealthy family has come to financial ruin after her father’s ships are destroyed by disease and storm.  A shipyard worker offers the family a home with him back in his native village.  The desperate yet grateful family accepts the offer despite rumors of magic being practiced in the area.  The family adjusts to their new country life and do quite well for themselves until their father’s fateful journey.  After being lost in a snow storm, Beauty’s father stumbles across an enchanted castle in the nearby woods.  The invisible servants care for his every need.  After resting, he prepares to finish his journey home.  On his way out of the gates he notices a most beautiful rose garden and decides to pick one for Beauty.  This enrages the castle’s owner, a beast who up until now has remained unseen.  He accuses the father of being ungrateful and demands that either he or one of his daughters returns within the month to stay with him forever as payment.  Upon returning home, Beauty’s father tells his story to his daughters.  Beauty insists that she will be the one to return.  After an emotional debate upon the matter, Beauty gets her way.  The rest of the story is fairy tale history as Beauty and the Beast discover real love in each other and live happily ever after.

One of my all time favorite books!  I read it as a young girl and twice as an adult.  McKinley’s words are beautifully enchanting and  quickly bring you into this fairy tale world.  I only wish that the ending wasn’t so quick. McKinley has written a sequel to this book called Rose Daughter which I haven’t read yet.

Language: 1
Violence: 3
Sexual Content: 0
Adult Content: 1

Title: The Messenger
Author:  Lois Lowry

Ratings Explanation

Language: Matty quotes Lady Macbeth, “Out damn’d spot!  Out, I say!”  He also quotes Macduff, “O hell…”

Violence: References are made to Matty’s childhood of being abused and beaten bloody by his mother.  A man from Village is found dead.  He has been mutilated by the forest and it is described. Seer’s story is told of being found in the forest with his eyes gouged out and left for dead.   Matty cuts his leg and heals it himself.  The forest is evil and attacks Matty and Kira.  Branches and vines cut them like knives,   dripping sap burns their skin, leaving sores that weep and swell.  Vines try to strangle them, insects attack them and rocks fling through the air.

Adult Content- There are references to child abuse and government oppression.

Synopsis

In this final book, following The Giver and Gathering Blue, Matty lives in Village with Seer, a blind man who took him in after escaping an abusive home.  People in Village eventually receive a true name, and Matty hopes that his will be Messenger.  Things are changing though, in Village, in Matty, and in the dark forest.  Matty discovers he has a special power to heal others but isn’t quite sure how to use it.  People in Village are changing and not for the better.  Where they were once kind and welcoming, they are becoming selfish and mean.  They want to build a wall to keep new people out.  The dark forest is becoming increasingly sinister and foreboding, killing people.  Matty must make a final trip through the forest as a messenger to others.

This book has so many layers and levels, I think.  I often found myself drawing parallels between the world we live in and the world in this book.  The forest is evil and scary!  The book  builds in suspense because you just know something really bad is going to happen.  I’m a girl who loves a happily ever after ending.  I want to feel good and content at the end of a book.  That didn’t happen for me with this book, but I will say that the story was well written and evoked emotion in me.  This book would be best when read and discussed with your child, or as a book club read.  A quote from this book, “there were communities everywhere, sprinkled across the vast landscape of the unknown world, in which people suffered.  Not always because of beatings and hunger, the way he had.  But from ignorance.  From not knowing.  From being kept from knowledge.”

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Gathering Blue

Author: Lois Lowry

Ratings Explanation

Language: Woman dyes threads in a “pot of piss”

Violence: Kira’s father recounts the story of when he was attacked by a man, beaten up and left for dead. His attacker slashed his face, blinding him.

Sexual Content: “Others would be coupling tonight, creating new people.” p.18

Adult Themes:  Kira was born crippled. When she was a baby the leaders of the village wanted to take her away to “give her back to the earth,” but her mother fought to keep her. Kira’s mother dies, leaving her alone in the world. People are generally unkind to each other in the village. No one helps each other, even Kira’s uncle doesn’t offer any assistance when her mother dies. Parents treat their own children poorly, slapping them, penning them up and yelling at them.

Synopsis

In this companion novel to The Giver, Kira, a young, crippled girl, is left to fend for herself after her mother’s death. In a society where the weak are cast aside, or worse, Kira makes a plan to rebuild the hut she and her mother  lived in and make her own way in their unforgiving village. After a confrontation with the fiercest woman in the village, who wants Kira’s land for her own, Kira is assigned a defender from the Council of Guardians. Having discovered her exceptional talent for embroidery, The Council brings her to  live in the Council Edifice where she has plenty of food, running water and a bed. These are luxurious accommodations compared to the living conditions of the village. There she meets a new friend, Thomas, who is a young, gifted carver of wood. Kira learns that her responsibility, in exchange for food and shelter, is to restore the elaborate robe worn by the Singer who, once a year, sings the village’s ancient history. The story is told on the robe through intricate designs and Kira is to tell the future of the village through her art.

While Kira enjoys the advantages of living in the Edifice, she begins to realize that she, Thomas, and Jo, the tiny girl who will be Singer one day, have been “collected” for their artistic abilities, making the Edifice start to resemble more of a prison than a haven.

I enjoyed this book far more than The Giver. While not the focus of the story, Kira’s disability is handled beautifully. She is never embarrassed or bitter about her lot in life. “Mother said pain made me strong,” states Kira. She is determined to be an influence for good and to change the future of her village. Although The Giver and Gathering Blue are companion novels, there isn’t any connection between the stories until the end when a boy is mentioned who might, or might not, be Jonas. I will be interested to see if they fit together in The Messenger.

Language:  3.5

Violence:  2

Sexual Content:  4

Adult Themes:  3

Title:  Beastly

Author:  Alex Flinn

Ratings Explanation

Language:  A few instances of profanity; just about every other swear word but the f-word used at least once.  Other crass language (skank, piss, slut).   The bad language does not permeate the book, but is enough to give literate mothers pause.

Violence:  The beast attacks the witch after she transforms him; he has a temper and lashes out at people and breaks things.  He watches (through a magic mirror) a father physically and emotionally abuse his daughter.  The beast breaks a girl’s arm at a dance.  He is attacked by subway passengers and lashes out at them.  A man threatens and points a gun at the girl he loves and the beast attacks him to save her.

Sexual Content:  Kyle, the main character, says that school proms are a form of “legalized prostitution.”  Kyle uses crass talk when referring to situations between him and his girlfriend, i.e. “…in return, I get some,” school dance chaperones “keep us from mating on the dance floor,”  her hand on him was headed “toward the Danger Zone,”  ”going for the crotch again,” someone suggests a “threesome.”  Kyle watches naked girls through his magic mirror.  When searching for a girl online to break the spell, pay sex sites pop up and women send him naked pictures.  He overhears guys at the dance talking about “what they had in their pockets and who they’d use them on.”  He imagines “tangling [Lindy's] body with his.”

Adult Themes:  Kyle’s mother left his father to run off with another man.  Kyle and his girlfriend drink vodka at her parent’s house after the dance.  Rape is discussed very briefly, and castration as punishment.  Lindy’s druggie father abuses her; her “slut” sisters had run off to live with their boyfriends.  Kyle discusses a gay writer (Oscar Wilde) with his tutor.   A drug dealer breaks into Kyle’s house and offers him drugs.  In the end of the book, it is mentioned that Lindy has moved in with Kyle to get away from her drug-addicted father.  (She has a separate bedroom, but both Lindy and Kyle are still in high school.)

Synopsis

Kyle Kingsbury, a Manhattan freshman at an elite prep school, describes himself as the guy with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life, “The guy you wished you were.”  He treats everyone badly and laughs about it, having no sympathy for anyone less endowed than him in either looks or money.  That is, until the day a Gothic-looking girl at his school casts a horrible spell on him and turns him into a beast (sound familiar?).  Now he has two years to find someone he can love and who loves him in return for who he is–the classic spell-breaking love in fairy tales.  So Kyle’s dad moves him out of their Manhattan apartment and into a Brooklyn brownstone where he holes himself up with nothing but books, the internet, and the magic mirror the witch gave him and no one but a cook/maid and a blind tutor.  In the meantime, he transforms on the inside from a horrid, egotistical jerk into a sensitive, literary, rose-loving, gardening, sweet-but-hairy-on-the-outside kind of guy.  When a drug dealer breaks into his house and fears for his life in the clutches of the Beast, he offers his teenage daughter in exchange for his life (really?!)  Along comes Lindy, the average-looking, smart girl with a gentle touch and a love of books who sees past his beastly exterior and into his now-refined heart of gold .  Bet you can’t guess the ending.

The author paints such an annoying picture of Kyle in the beginning of the book, you almost want to put the book down.  I suppose that was intended, so that the reader will relish watching his sanctifying transformation.  Of course he becomes the lovable, perfect guy in the end who falls for the ordinary girl that every girl reading this book thinks she is.  It’s a nice, familiar story that doesn’t disappoint in the end, but it could have been just as good without the crude language and sex talk.  I also found it hard to believe that a 16-year-old couple could find true love that would last forever and that they were living together in the same enormous house by story’s end with no apparent parental supervision.  These are themes I would not recommend adolescent girls to indulge in.

Language-4

Violence- 2.5

Sexual Content- 1

Adult Themes- 1

Title: The King of Attolia (The Queen’s Thief, Book 3)

Author:  Megan Whalen Turner

Ratings Explanation

Language: There was a high level of language in this book.  The most frequent being hell and damn.  Exclamations of deity are also prevalent, usually in conjunction with damn.  Bastard is used a handful of times, along with a couple of other stronger words.

Violence:  Assassins try to kill the King.  He fights them and is injured in the process.  The Dr. stitches the wound and it is described.  The Queen slaps the King.  The king is angry and throws things, breaking them.  There is sword fighting and aggressive behavior.

Sexual Content:  The Queen and King kiss.  There are references to them sharing a bed, although they are married.  The guards and the King sit naked in the steam room.

Adult themes: Loyalty vs. betrayal seems to be the outstanding theme in this book.  The people worship many different Gods.

Synopsis

The Thief, Eugenides, is now the King of Attolia.  He must convince the Queen’s court that he is worthy of the title he now bears.  The Attolians think he is an idiot, a puppet of the Queen, and that there is no love in the marriage.  After all, she was the one who cut off his hand.   The king finds himself the recipient of many pranks, jokes, and even an assassination attempt.  Eugenides is clever though, and as usual, has a carefully laid out plan.

This book was a bit different from the other two books, but no less exciting and compelling.  I love the storytelling in this book and in this series.  While this book lacked the twists and surprises the other two books had, it had a depth that I enjoyed.  Eugenides literally changes the minds of those who wish ill upon him, and he does it with integrity, intelligence and patience.  The story of love between the Queen and King is so good.  The biggest drawback of this book, for me, is the language.  Most editorial reviews place this book anywhere from 7-11^th grade.  I would disagree and say that this book (and series) should be at the upper end of the high school range, if not young adult.

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Tombs of Terror

Author: T. Lynn Adams

Ratings Explanation

Violence: A drunk man is murdered. 3 murders reported in the newspaper. All 3 had their throats slit. Severino points a gun at Jonathon. Terrorists kidnap Jonathon; they tie a bag over his head, hit him in the head and drag him away. Previous actions of the terrorists are related. They killed a man, a woman and her baby. They plan to torture and kill Jonathon. They shoot at Jonathon and Carlos as they make their escape. Jonathon is attacked in the hospital; he is poisoned and choked.

Although I wouldn’t call this violence, the creepy factor is high in Tombs of Terror. Jonathon falls into an ancient set of tunnels where hundreds of dead spiders fall on him. He also encounters mummies, skeletons, all kinds of icky bugs and booby traps meant to kill trespassers.

Adult Themes: Jonathon and his father have a rocky relationship. Peruvian terrorists kidnap Jonathon.

Synopsis

While accompanying his father on a research trip to Peru, Jonathon Bradford hears the fascinating story of the ancient Incas whose entire civilization vanished in one night to escape the invading Spaniards. Local legends abound concerning the accomplishment of their escape through a set of subterranean tunnels connecting many cities throughout modern-day Peru. But if these tunnels truly exist, wouldn’t someone have discovered them by now?

While descending a jungle trail from Machu Pichu, Jonathon discovers that the tunnels are all too real. In order to survive, he must learn to avoid the perils concealed in them, face the truth about himself and his father, and push his strength and determination to their limits.

I found the story of the Incas disappearance intriguing and enjoyed Jonathon’s transformation from boy to man. It made me want to do a little more research to find out what is really known about the tunnel system in Peru. I thought Adams did an excellent job of illustrating the differences between the predominantly privileged American way of life and the poor, difficult, yet proud life of many Peruvians. Tombs of Terror is creepy, but my 13-year old is lined up to read it next.

Title: Fang

Author: James Patterson

Ratings Explanation

Language: There are a few crude words used.   Exclamations of deity occur frequently throughout the book (good Lord, Oh God, Lordy, etc.).  There is also frequent use of the word hell.  The rating of 3 reflects the frequency of usage.

Violence: Bird kids are shot at flying into Africa.  They fight back.  A young girl cuts herself and then heals herself.  A Dr. injects himself with something, grows disgusting sores, cuts his finger off and then heals himself.  Bird kids fight against Erasers and kill them.  Some bird kids are hurt.  Max and Fang are shot at and chased.  Fang is beaten up and wakes to find himself hooked to an IV.  Bird kids fight against an evil scientist and his men.  Mutated bodies are described.  Max injects a needle straight into Fang’s heart.

Sexual Content- Fang and Max kiss several times.

Adult Themes- The Apocalypse (the end of the world) is referred to a few times in this book.  Bird kids receive tattoos for a gift and discuss how cool it will be to get them.  Fang and Max (underage) gamble in Vegas and win.

Synopsis

Maximum Ride is the leader and protector of her small flock of bird kids.  Many evil forces are out to destroy them.  Over time, Fang has become more than a friend to Max and she discovers her love for him.  Then comes a horrible prophetic message that Fang will be the first to die, and soon.  Another bird kid, Dylan, is introduced to the group.  He has been made especially for Max.  The tension in the little flock peaks and emotions run high.  Max struggles to keep her flock together, safe, and happy.

I read through this book quickly.  It was interesting and compelling.  I would disagree with the target age group for this book though.  The violence and language alone would suggest this is not a book for children.  I like Max’s loyalty to her friends.  Maybe it’s my mother emotions coming out, but I can relate to how she loves her flock, her family.   Her heart is with them no matter what and she really tries to do the best for them.  She wants them to be safe and happy.  My quote from this book is, “Did anyone just tell the truth anymore?”

Language- 3

Violence- 1

Sexual Content- 1

Adult Themes- 1

Title: I’d Tell You I Love You, but Then I’d Have To Kill You

Author: Ally Carter

Ratings Explanation

Language: The “B” word is used many times in this book.  Sometimes it looks like this: “B__”.  Sometimes it is actually spelled out.  There is a damn, a bloody, and a bloody hell.

Violence- The girls are training spies and there are mild references to spy torture and combat techniques.  Cammie throws Josh down to the concrete.  The girls have an “operation” where they use kicks and hits to subdue their enemy.

Sexual content- Cammie and friends think the new teacher is “hot”.  Cammie and Josh hold hands and kiss.

Adult Themes-   Girls in this book sneak out and lie to adults.  Cammie’s father, who is a spy, is missing and presumed dead.

Synopsis
Cammie is a 15-year-old girl who’s life is anything but normal.  She attends Gallagher Academy,  a top secret boarding school, training to be a spy.  Her mother is a spy and also the head master of the school.  On a training exercise,  Cammie meets a “normal” boy who shows interest in her.  Cammie must keep her real identity a secret and the lies she tells lead to many complications and adventures.  Cammie had no idea falling for a guy could be so dangerous.

The story itself is cute.  It’s a rather fluffy read, quick and very teenager-ish.  Cammie is full of sarcasm and one liners that made me laugh.  What girl hasn’t, at some time or another, wished she could be a super strong, smart, sexy spy?!  (Go ahead, say that 5 times, really fast…)  The downside to this book is the language.  It is so completely unnecessary.   Here is my favorite part of the book:

“I did what I was trained to do- I grabbed the offending arm, shifted my weight, and used the force of my would-be attacker’s momentum against him.

It was fast.  Really fast.  Scary, these- hands- are- lethal-weapons fast.  I am so good, I thought, right up until the point when I looked down and saw Josh lying at my feet, the wind knocked out of him.  His voice sounded so weak, and I thought, This is it.  I killed the only man I could ever love, and now I’m about to hear his deathbed (deathstreet?) confession.  I leaned close to him.  My hair fell into his open mouth.  He gagged.

So…yeah…on my first pseudo-date, I not only physically assaulted my potential soul mate, I also made him gag- literally.”

 Language- 4

 Violence- 3

 Sexual Content- 1

 Adult Themes – 2

 Title: The Queen of Attolia

Author: Megan Whalen Turner

 Ratings Explanation

Language: Exclamations of deity (Oh Gods, Thank the Gods, Oh My God) are used frequently.  Damn and hell are also used frequently in several different forms and phrases.  Bastard is used once.  The “B” word is also used.  Several references are made to cursing without actually using the words.   For example, “A great deal of swearing”.

Violence: Eugenides is caught in the Queen of Attolia’s castle and is imprisoned and treated poorly.  His hand is cut off as punishment and is described in detail.  There is a war between several countries and thus, fighting and death.  Some battle scenes are described which include fighting with swords.   Eugenides gets his ears “boxed” by the queen.  Eugenides is angry and throws things.  There is a scene where Eugenides takes a goat to offer as a sacrifice to his Gods.  He “deftly” slits the goat’s throat, then its belly.  The blood and guts are described.  The windows of the building are blown out by the anger of the Gods.

Sexual Content: Eugenides declares his love for the Queen.  He kisses the queen.

Adult Themes: There is much talk of war, loyalties, and betrayals in this book.  Worship of Gods and the fear of offending “the Gods” are the basis of many decisions the characters make.  The Gods speak with the characters in several instances.  Eugenides feels “betrayed” by the Gods.

Synopsis

The Queen of Attolia is the second book in the Queen’s Thief series.  It continues the life and adventures of Eugenides, the queen’s thief.  In the first book, Eugenides stole a mythical relic from the Queen of Attolia.  Now he finds himself in the path of her wrath and her plans for revenge.  His small country becomes entangled in a war with Attolia.  It is said that Eugenides can steal anything, but can he steal the Queen of Attolia and peace for his warring country?  What will be the cost of such attempts?

This is a fantastic, compelling story.  The characters are strong and believable and  Eugenides has a dry wit that I love.  The twists in this story are so fun.  There were parts of this book I just couldn’t get through fast enough for wanting to know what happened next.  I can’t believe how badly I wanted good things to happen for Eugenides, like he was my child or something!   The ending was superb.  I loved it, and I love Eugenides.  Such emotions can only be brought about by a great story.  Having said all that, I have to add how disappointed I am in the language levels in this book.  I would never feel comfortable allowing my children to read this book.  I felt uncomfortable with the language.   This is not a child’s book.  The themes, feelings and actions of this book are very adult.  The main characters are young adults, but I would suggest caution in allowing children to read this book.  My favorite quote from this book is, “Gen, I know my decisions are my own responsibility.  If I am the pawn of the Gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make up my mind for me.”

Language: 1

Violence: 4

Sexual Content: 4

Adult Themes: 3

Title:  Pretties

Author: Scott Westerfield

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Tally has to “pee”.  ”Why does everything suck?”  Tally swears at her hover board.

Violence:  Shay and her clique of “Cutters” cut themselves with knives to overcome their bubbliness.  (Graphic Description)  ”They all watched, and then, one by one, they cut themselves.  And as each did so, their faces transformed to become more like Shay’s: ecstatic and insane.”

Sexual Content:  ”Peris had warned Tally about sex….maybe it was time.  She had been here a month and Zane was special.”  Tally and Zane kiss many times.  Zane tells Tally, “It is a pleasure garden, I’ve spent my share of time in here.”  ”Worst was the absence of Zane’s body next to her.  She’d stayed with him every night for the last month, and they’d spent most of every day together.” She places her hand on “his bare chest”.  Zane and Tally huddle together for warmth.  Tally lies on top of Zane while hover boarding.

 Adult Themes:  ”You didn’t surge again, did you? You’re not supposed to more than once a week.”  (Plastic Surgery Enhancements)  ”We could smoke tobacco.”  Tally and Zane each take a one pill to cure them of being pretty.  Tally and Zane limit their food consumption and live on coffee as a way to overcome the “bubbliness”, the lesions on their brains.  They both become very thin.

Summary

Tally has been transformed into a pretty.  She really wants to become a part of the “Crims” clique.  Croy, a Smokie, finds her at a Pretty Party and leaves clues to her past life in The Smoke.  Zane, the leader of the “Crims” clique, joins Tally in a search for her past.  Zane and Tally split the cure and each take one pill to cure the pretty brain lesions.  The pills cure them of their brain lesions, however, they are affected differently.  Zane has crippling headaches, while Tally seems to be fine.  The Specials are suspicious of Tally and Zane and fit them with tracking cuffs, to spy on them.  As leaders of the “Crim” clique, they encourage the clique to consume caffeine and expose themselves to adrenalin rushes to combat the brain lesions.  Tally’s friend, Shay remembers Tally’s betrayal in the Smoke and is no longer Tally’s friend.  Shay leads a group of “Crims” and shows them how to cure their brain lesions, by cutting themselves with knives.  They are “Cutters”.

Dr. Cable tries to recruit Tally to become a Special.  (The Enforcing Unit in their society.)  Zane, suffering from headaches, goes to the hospital for care.  A tracking device is implanted in his tooth.  Tally and Zane use the heat from the tools in a  blown glass studio to remove the tracking cuffs from their wrists.  The Crims steal a hot air balloon for their escape.  Tally misses the jump off point and falls into a river.  She now has to travel overland to find “The New Smoke”.  She encounters a pre-rusty tribe living primitively in the woods.  The tribe’s holy man, Andrew Simpson Smith, guides her to the “edge of the world.”  Tally realizes the group is an anthropology project used to study violence.  Tally steals a hovercraft belonging to an anthropologist.

 Tally meets up with David in the Rusty Ruins.  David brings Tally to “The New Smoke”, where she finds Zane struggling for his life.  The pill he took is destroying his brain.  Tally realizes that Zane’s tooth has a tracking signal that has been activated.  There is no chance for removal.  The New Smoke must flee.  Tally chooses to stay with Zane, instead of David.  The “Cutters” have been turned into new “Specials”. Shay arrives to capture Tally and inform her that she will become a “Special”. 

I really enjoyed the FIRST book in this series.  However, the strong moral values you receive in the first book are completely obliterated in the second book. This could have been a great story, without the overt sexual content and violence.  I am also very concerned with the “cutting/self-mutilation”.  I do not recommend this book for the age group it is marketed to (Grades 6-10).  However, if you choose to read this book, proceed with caution.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Uglies

Author: Scott Westerfield

ALA Best Book for Young Adults, SLJ Best Book; Golden Duck Award, NY Public Library Best Books for the Teen Age

Ratings Explanation

Language:  The term, “suck” is used several times.  Shay and Tally refer to one another as “Fattie” and “Pignose”.

Violence:  The plastic surgery used to turn “Uglies” into “Pretties”, is described.  The people of  ”The Smoke” fight while they are taken hostage.  Tally finds Boss dead in the forest undergrowth.  ”David’s power jack thudded against the side of Dr. Cable’s head, and she slumped to the floor.”

Sexual Content:   Tally “startled a couple hidden among the trees (it was a pleasure garden, after all).”  They were a “tangle of perfect legs and arms”.  ”Uglies did kiss each other and a lot more.”  ”The big eyes and lips said: I’m young and vulnerable.  I can’t hurt you, and you want to protect me.  And the rest said: I’m healthy, I won’t make you sick.  And no matter how you felt about a pretty, there was a part of you that thought: If we had kids, they’d be healthy too.  I want this pretty person…”  Tally bathes in the wild.  She realizes that she has never been naked outside before.  Tally replies, ” Yeah, I know about the birds and the bees.”  Tally and David share a kiss.  Sexual innuendo as Tally and David ride a hover board together.  ”Riding double was something Tally had never done before, and she found herself glad she was with David and not just anyone.  She stood in front of him, bodies touching, her arms out, his hands around her waist.  They negotiated the turns without words, Tally shifting her weight gradually, waiting for David to follow her lead.  As they slowly got the hang of it, their bodies began to move together, threading the board down the familiar path as one.”

 Adult Themes:  Shay and Tally use morpho software to make their faces symmetrical and fit the “standard of beauty”.  Shay proclaims, “That’s not me.  It’s some committee’s idea of me.”   Tally and Shay peruse ancient magazines full of women “wearing formfitting underwear, like a lacy swimsuit…the woman looked like she was starving, her ribs thrusting out from her sides, her legs so thin that Tally wondered how they didn’t snap under her weight.  Her elbows and pelvic bones looked sharp as needles.  But there she was smiling and proudly baring her body, as if she’d just had the operation and didn’t realize they’d sucked out way too much fat.”  (Description of a model.)  Tally and Shay discover that a lot of people, “especially young girls, became so ashamed at being fat that they stopped eating….some even died.”  The girls fight over “David” in the “The Smoke”.  Pretties were “drinking and throwing their empty bottles to shatter.”  Tally pushes her way through drunken dancers.  Shay is drunk.

Summary

Tally is on the verge of reaching 16, the age at which an operation will turn her from an Ugly to a Pretty.  Tally ’s friend, Shay, runs away to the wilderness, “The Smoke”, to find others who want to stay their uniquely beautiful “ugly” selves.  When Shay runs away, Tally is threatened with a life of ugliness if she does not track Shay down and betray the “People of The Smoke”.   Tally is initially horrified by the primitive lifestyle in the wilderness; however, she enjoys the freedoms of the wild and her new found friend, David. Tally decides to remain an Ugly and attempts to destroy the tracker, which accidentally sets it off.  The Smoke is invaded and Tally barely escapes.  David’s father, Az, is killed. Tally and David release hostages and Tally confesses her part in the destruction of “The Smoke” to David and his mother.  David’s mother, Maddie, has created a cure for the Pretties, but she needs a willing participant to take the cure.  Tally realizes the only way to redeem herself is to surrender to the city and become a pretty.  She will then take the newly discovered antidote to see if it will work.

This book is emotionally charged.   “The Uglies” plays on the emotions surrounding adolescent development.  I do love the underlying messages regarding body image, self-worth, peer pressure, individuality and conformity.  Beauty should be found within and radiate throughout.  I think this is a great book for a junior high/high school reader.  I am disappointed by the unnecessary sexual references.   

©2010 The Literate Mother

 Language: 2

 Violence: 2

Sexual content: 1

 Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Thief (The Queen’s Thief, Book 1)

Author: Megan Whalen Turner

1997 Newbery Honor

Ratings Explanation

Language: “Damn” and “God’s Damn” are used many times throughout the book.

Violence: Gen is frequently mistreated and abused because he is a prisoner and beneath those he is traveling with.  He is slapped, kicked, hit, tied up and beaten with a riding crop.  The traveling group is attacked, there is fighting with swords and all attackers are killed.  Gen is injured when he tries to slow a group of soldiers by fighting them with a sword. Many people die in the attack.  Gen finds the bones of many dead people in the temple of the Gods.

Sexual Content: Gen is stripped down naked and washed.

Adult Themes: Gen is a thief and steals things.  The book is based on stories of Gods and Goddesses like the God of the Sky, Goddess of the Earth, the God of Thieves and so forth.

Synopsis The story of Gen begins in a prison where Gen is being held for stealing.  He is not just a thief, but a bragging thief.  Self proclaimed as the best thief, able to steal anything.  The king’s scholar, the magus, needs Gens help to steal a rumored and hidden treasure of the God’s from another land.  We follow their journey to the hidden temple of the Gods where Gens abilities are put to the test.  The magus has plans, but Gen is a trickster and has a plan of his own.

I did not really get into this book until Gen reaches the temple of the Gods and begins his adventure there.  I did love the ending of this book because it went someplace I wasn’t expecting.  It unfolded into another story.  Honestly, the repeated usage of “God’s damn” in the beginning of the book really distracted me from the story and the mean treatment of Gen was not my favorite.  The moment I really bonded with Gen was when he said this in response to Sophos’s question, “If you could be anywhere you wanted right now, where would it be?”  “In bed.  In a big bed, with a carved footboard, in a warm room with a lot of windows.  And sheets.  And a fireplace, and books.  Lots of books.”  That was the moment that I knew I could love Gen. 

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 3

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride, Book 1)

Author: James Patterson

Ratings Explanation

 Language: Frequent and casual use of “God” as an exclamation. “Freaking” and common swearwords used a handful of times.

Violence: Erasers are part-human part-wolf and their purpose is to kill Max and her flock. The Erasers attack the flock several times in the book. In these fight scenes there is kicking, hitting, scratching, some shooting and a grenade or two.

Angel is kidnapped,  stuffed in a sack and zapped with an electric rod. Max takes on several teenage boys who are hassling a younger girl. She breaks noses, cracks ribs, and hits one in the head with a shotgun. They give chase, shooting at her, and one of the bullets finds its mark. Gazzy and Iggy drop a homemade bomb on a cabin. It blows up and two Erasers are killed. The scientists who are holding Angel hostage, torture, study and test her like an animal. Nudge and Fang fight Erasers and Fang is beaten up badly. Ari, an Eraser who is only 7-years old, shoots at Max and the others. Max bites Ari’s finger so hard it bleeds and she won’t let go. They fight the scientists who are holding them prisoner. Hawks tear into the flesh of the scientists. Max is caught by an Eraser, but he suddenly dies. Ari smashes Fang’s head into a rock, Fang kicks him in the chest and Ari elbows Fang in the mouth. Ari and Max fight. He hits her and she kicks him in the throat and chest. She has a hold of his head and when they fall down, his neck snaps and he dies. An Eraser explodes when he steps on the electric rail of a train track.

Sexual Content: Max kisses Fang

Adult Themes:  Gazzy, who is only 8, feels guilty for killing the two Erasers. The kids steal a car and money from an ATM.  There are many strange mutant experiments. Iggy gets his ear pierced. Max feels guilty and sad for killing Ari. All of the flock are searching for their birth parents. They all want to belong to a real family. They discover that Gazzy and Angel’s parents sold them to the scientists for experiments.

Synopsis

The Maximum Ride series is James Patterson’s first entry into Young Adult fiction.

Maximum Ride and her five friends have 98% human DNA and 2% bird DNA. They are engineered to fly. Having lived most of their lives in a science lab called The School, where they were constantly tested and studied, a scientist named Jeb finally rescues them from The School and takes them to live in a cabin in the wilderness. Jeb acts as the father figure for this makeshift family, but after he disappears, Max and the flock are completely on their own.  Erasers, who are half-human and half-wolf, kidnap 6-year old Angel. This spurs Max, Fang and Iggy all 14, along with Nudge 11 and Gazzy 8, to embark on a rescue mission to save their little sister.

While searching for Angel they attempt to learn more about their history. Why were they created? Where are their parents? Why do they continue to discover powers they never knew they possessed? Why is Max hearing a voice in her head? And is the voice for them or against them?

The story of The Angel Experiment is compelling and I finished in only a couple of days. But although it kept me turning the pages, I was uncomfortable with all of the violence the children participated in. Should a 7-year old know what it feels like to be responsible for killing someone? This is not the focus of the book, and the kids are in “kill or be killed” situations, but still it might be disturbing for more sensitive readers.

I do like the character Max . She is strong and smart and tough, but she is also the mother figure to all of the kids in the flock. She is genuinely concerned for their safety and happiness. Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal both recommend this book for ages 12 and up. I think that’s a bit young for the content.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Giver

Author: Lois Lowry

1994 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence: A “discipline wand” is used to reprimand the young and the old. The Giver transfers painful memories to Jonas including killing an elephant, breaking a leg, hunger and warfare. Jonas’s father “releases” a newborn by administering a lethal injection into it’s forehead.

Sexual Content: Jonas and Fiona go to the House of the Old to bathe them. That night Jonas dreams he wants his friend Fiona to take off her clothes and get in a tub so he can bathe her.  The strongest emotion of the dream is the wanting that he feels all through his body. Once these “stirrings” begin in an adolescent, they must take a pill every day to stop the stirrings. Jonas describes the stirrings as pleasurable and he wants to feel them again. Later he stops taking the pills and has “pleasurable dreams.”

Adult Themes: Each person is assigned a job in the community. Lilly expresses a desire to be a birth mother and her mother responds sharply, “There is little honor in that Assignment.” Birth mothers enjoy three years of pampering while they bear three children, but then spend the rest of their adult lives as laborers. When Jonas learns what “release” in the community actually means, he is angry at his father for “releasing” newborns. When Rosemary applies for release she asks to give herself the injection. Gabriel, a baby who comes to live with Jonas’s family for a time, is scheduled for release. Jonas must run away with him in order to save Gabriel’s life. They are completely alone and suffer hunger and fatigue.

Synopsis

Jonas is an Eleven in his community and is anxiously awaiting the ceremony where he will become a Twelve and receive his Assignment. Some Twelves will become caregivers for the old, some will become doctors and others will be laborers, but when Jonas is given the Assignment of Receiver of Memories, he is filled with both pride and fear.

As Jonas begins his training as Receiver, he learns that the world has not always been as it is now. Jonas has never experienced real pain, sadness or hunger, nor has he experienced snow, a rainbow, or love. As he begins to understand what a tremendous responsibility it is to carry the memories for the Community, he begins to see the hypocrisy of his society and bravely refuses to contribute to it.

The Giver is a compelling story told with eerie undertones. Their world, which is devoid of real feelings and sensations, is completely orderly and controlled. Definitely a worthwhile read and ripe with discussion topics. Read this one along with your child and have a book club discussion over ice cream.

While this book is recommended for anywhere between 4th and 8th grade, I would stick with the upper end of that spectrum.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Remembering Isaac – The Joyful Potter of Neiderbipp

Author: Ben Behunin

Ratings Explanation

 Violence:  Mary, Emily, and Marge witness the near killing of a chicken in what Farmer Hill called ‘the pecking order’, saying there was little he could do to save the poor bird. “He told us that if he stepped in now, it would only be a matter of time before another bird began to get picked on and that it would be better just to let nature take its course.”  The chicken’s pecking order is no different than the girl’s social circle.

Sexual Content: Jake and Amy share a kiss.

Adult Themes: Pregnancy Loss.

Summary

Jake purchases a post-college graduation airline ticket to Greece and eagerly awaits his upcoming adventure.  A ceramics professor suggests he apply for an unusual position,  a town potter.  Neiderbipp’s town potter, Isaac, has died.  Jake takes the bus to rural Pennsylvania to weigh his options before his departure for Greece.  He arrives in Neiderbipp and finds a somewhat quirky, yet charming town settled by German immigrants in the early 1700’s.  A town that looks as if it has been transplanted from Germany to Pennsylvania.  Jake is intrigued and accepts a trial position as the town potter for the summer, delaying his trip to Greece for a few months.

Jake cleans out the potter’s studio/shop and discovers an array of mugs hanging from the rafters with varying levels of dust.  As the summer passes, Isaac’s friends stop by to clean their mug, make a pot of peppermint tea, and share their “Isaac Experiences” with Jake.   Jake realizes that Isaac was much more than the town potter as he pieces together Isaac’s life story.  Jake also discovers the “wisdom of a humble craftsman”.

This book simply makes me want to be a better person.  I loved it!  I look forward to reading the sequel.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence:2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Les Miserables

Author: Victor Hugo

Abridged by James K. Robinson

Ratings Explanation

Language: Several instances of taking the Lord’s name in vain.

Violence: Some descriptions of life in prison: chain gangs, solitary confinement, prisoners treated like animals. Jean Valjean is held captive by Thenardier and several other thugs. There is a struggle and when Valjean is subdued he is tied to a bed. He escapes and burns his own arm with a white hot chisel. Shots are fired at the battle of the barricade and both students and soldiers fall. Eponine takes a bullet to save Marius and dies in his arms. Gavroche is shot and dies outside of the barricade. Javert throws himself into the rapids of the Seine.

Adult Themes:  The near impossibility of those at the fringes of society to better their lives in an honest way. The judicial and social systems ensure that they never rise to anything better. Valjean rises above his circumstances because he commits a crime. Mercy vs. justice. Forgiveness vs. revenge. Suicide.

Synopsis

Jean Valjean is imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children. Nineteen years and several foiled escape attempts later, he is released back into society with  his yellow papers, marking him an ex-convict for life. Unable to even procure a night’s lodging and a meal, he turns once again to crime. Valjean steals silver from a priest who has given him a place to sleep, food, and acceptance and love. When the priest forgives him, Valjean sees the good in man. From this priest he learns forgiveness and caring which leads him to devote the rest of his life to God.

Valjean becomes a wealthy mayor, employing and serving all the less fortunate in his city. He takes Fantine, a destitute woman, into his care and rescues her daughter, Cosette, from the exploits of the Thenardiers. Caring for her as a beloved daughter, Valjean learns what it is to love another person.

While Valjean devotes his life to serving God and his fellowmen, Javert, a former prison guard and now police chief, devotes his life to finding Valjean and bringing him to justice. This game of cat and mouse continues over years with Valjean always looking over his shoulder, but never afraid to do good.

Hugo’s classic tale of Jean Valjean and his struggle against society and conscience is starkly abridged in this edition. While the major characters and basic story line are kept intact, nearly all of the social and political commentary is eliminated. The story feels choppy and a little confusing at times, but for someone only interested in the bare bones of the plot, it will do the job. I thought that much of the emotion of the story was lost and felt like characters just appeared to do their job in the story and then disappeared again. (Eponine was only mentioned twice before she died in Marius’s arms. It was hard to believe that she really loved him with so little interaction between them.) I would recommend reading either the unabridged version or a much longer abridged version to get the full effect of this wonderful and moving piece of literature.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:  1

Violence:  2

Sexual Content:  0

Adults Themes:  1

Title:  The Graveyard Book

Author:  Neil Gaiman 

2009 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Use of the word “hell” to describe the underworld.

Violence:  The family of the main character (Bod) is murdered in their sleep at home.  Bod is hunted throughout the book by the evil character Jack.  Bod is kidnapped by ghouls and taken to their underworld.  Descriptions of their ghoulish activites and appetites (eating creatures and crunching bones).  Some of the ghouls are killed.  Bod meets a witch girl living in the graveyard who was drowned and burned.  Bod is locked in a storage closet by a pawn shop owner.  Bod forces himself into the dreams of the school bully to scare him.  The police pick him up and hit his guardian Silas with their car.  Jack returns and tries to kill Bod with a knife; he holds Bod’s friend Scarlett at knifepoint; Jack is killed by the Sleer, a creepy, snake-like creature.

Adult Themes:  Bod’s family is murdered when he is just a baby.  He must deal with growing up in the surreal world of the graveyard.  He is persistently hunted throughout the book by either the man Jack, the ghouls, or bullies at the neighborhood school.  The deaths of some of the graveyard ghosts are described (again, not in vivid detail).  Jack suffers a violent death in the end which Bod orchestrates.

Synopsis

Nobody Owens (“Bod” for short) is just a toddler when he is adopted by the ghost couple Mr. and Mrs. Owens, graveyard residents, after his family has just been murdered.  The entire graveyard of spirits help raise the boy, many of whom are reluctant to allow a living boy in their realm until they realize they may be his only hope for survival.  Bod is given the “Freedom of the Graveyard”, which enables him to see all the ghosts and to replicate some of their talents, such as “fading”(disappearing).  He is not allowed to leave the graveyard.  Another resident, Silas, a man who is neither dead nor alive, agrees to be his guardian and teach him skills he will need to survive one day in the real world.  As Bod grows, he becomes curious about why his family was killed.  He knows that one day the man Jack will come back after him.  Bod meets interesting characters who live in the graveyard, such as Liza Hempstock, a witch girl who was drowned and burned at the stake, and Caius Pompeius, the oldest resident who was buried in Roman times.  Bod’s only contacts are with the dead; he has no living children as friends until he meets Scarlett, a little girl who sometimes plays in the graveyard.  When she moves away, he is left with only his ghost friends again.

One day three ghouls arrive and promise Bod a better life, and he unwittingly travels with them to their underworld.  He then realizes he’s been kidnapped.  Miss Lupescu, a friend of Silas’s, enters the underworld as a werewolf and rescues Bod.  As Bod grows, so does his restlessness, and when Scarlett returns he agrees to leave the graveyard with her to solve his family’s murder mystery.  Unknowingly, the two of them are being helped by the kindly ”Jay” Frost, who is really the man Jack in disguise.  Mr. Frost tells Bod he can help him and they return to the home where Bod’s family was killed, now being rented by Mr. Frost.  He takes Bod upstairs and pulls out a knife.  Bod escapes and he and Scarlett go back to the graveyard to an underground crypt where the “Sleer” lives, a hideous snake-like creature with three heads that guards a treasure.  Jack follows them, is tempted by the treasure and is killed by the Sleer.  Silas erases Scarlett’s memory, she leaves, and Bod is left alone again.  As he grows older, he finds his ability to fade and see the ghosts weakening.  Silas tells him it is finally time for him to leave the graveyard and join the living, and Bod leaves, determined to see the world.

The murder of Bod’s family in the beginning of the book, though not explicit in detail, sets the overall tone for the book.  It is a somber yet fascinating story of a boy being raised by ghosts; there are no overtly disturbing images of death or violence.  But some children may be too sensitive for this book–I could see my youngest having nightmares of being kidnapped by ghouls–while others may enjoy the ghosts and other-worldly characters.  The graveyard characters are loving and gentle, not creepy.  You find yourself growing very fond of the mysterious Silas and rooting for Bod to survive and thrive. 

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 3

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Gone With the Wind

Author: Margaret Mitchell

Ratings Explanation

Language: Common swear words and profanity throughout the book. Slaves regularly referred to as “darkies” and several instances of “nigger”. Many racial slurs.

Violence: Some war violence. Scarlet slaps Prissy. Scarlet shoots and kills a Yankee soldier in defending her home and family. Wilkerson, Tara’s former overseer, is shot. Scarlet is attacked, her dress is ripped open and her attacker feels between her breasts looking for hidden money. The KKK, in retribution for the attack on Scarlet, kills the two men who attacked her. In this altercation, Frank is shot and killed and Ashley is shot. Bonnie is thrown from  her horse and dies.

Sexual Content: Rhett is described as “loose with women.” He asks Scarlet to be his mistress and she vehemently refuses, but later offers herself to him as either his wife or mistress in exchange for $300 to pay the taxes on Tara. Belle Watley is a prostitute and later the madam of one of several houses in Atlanta’s “red light district”.  Rhett spends time with Belle and frequents her establishment. No details are given, but the reader  knows where he spends his time. A few scenes of passionate kissing. One ardent night between Scarlet and Rhett.

Adult Themes: Slavery is an important theme throughout the book. Written from a southern point-of-view, the southerners all treat their slaves well and many of them are treated as part of the family. The Yankees are the ones characterized as prejudiced because, having never lived around black people, they don’t know how to interact with them. Obviously this is a slanted view of history, but provides a good catalyst for discussion. The horrors of the Civil War are freely discussed. The young southern gentlemen romanticize the war believing they will triumph in glory, but instead the south is ravaged, homes are burned, men are killed, and every family in the south is affected. Vivid descriptions of the wounded and dying soldiers. The development of the KKK.

Synopsis

Young Scarlet O’Hara is the charming belle of Clayton County, Georgia. Parties, dresses and her beau are the only things she worries her pretty little head about, until the Civil War breaks out. Gone With the Wind follows Scarlet on her harrowing journey through the war years and reconstruction. A survivor to the end, she will do whatever is necessary to protect herself and her own. This epic story, filled with characters never to be forgotten, is an American classic.

GWTW is definitely one of my top 10 favorite books. I love the self-serving, manipulative Scarlet who will survive at any cost. I adore Melanie, pity Ashley and swoon over the dashing Captain Butler. Written in 1936, this is history according to a southerner, and if  judged by today’s standards,  it is  very politically in-correct. But as long as you know that and judge it on its own merits, the incredible writing of Margaret Mitchell, the story you can’t put down and the characters indelibly etched in the reader’s mind, provide an (almost) unequaled reading experience.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 3

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Author: E Lockhart

Ratings Explanation

Language: Some crude references and swearing. FU (abbreviated, not spelled out) used twice.

Sexual Content: Frankie’s body develops over the summer and she can now stop teenage boys in their tracks.  She talks to a boy while wearing a string bikini and is self conscious because it’s “not enough clothing.” A boy is caught “fooling around” with girl. Frankie and her roommate joke about her filled out chest and the way boys look at girls’ chests when they talk to them. Frankie and her older boyfriend kiss or make out several times in the book. Once her boyfriend presses his body hard against her, but that is as graphic as it gets.  Frankie’s sister and friend assume she and her boyfriend are having sex and both counsel her to use protection. Her sister informs Frankie that she can get free condoms at Planned Parenthood. It is stated that another couple is having sex. A boy describes himself as “horny” and a reference is made to ” getting down my pants.”

Adult Themes: Teenagers drink beer and smoke with no visible consequences. Students at their school in the 1970s smoked pot.  Several pranks including heisting school property, stealing keys to the school and other misdeeds. One student is almost expelled for the pranks, but when the real mastermind steps forward, they are both put on probation. The others involved in the pranks are never revealed and suffer no consequences. Issues of class. Special rules apply to the wealthy and powerful.

Synopsis

14-year old Frankie Landau-Banks attends a prestigious boarding school, belongs to the debate team, and is basically invisible. 15-year old Frankie Landau-Banks still attends Alabaster Prep,  but returns her Sophomore year sporting a curvy, filled out body and is definitely not invisible. Her improved looks and quick wit land her a hot Senior as her new boyfriend. Life is great! As Matthew’s girlfriend, she is automatically accepted into the prestigious Senior social circle  and she loves the attention and elevated status. But Matthew and his friends, all members of a long standing, all-male secret society on campus, don’t take her seriously and underestimate her intelligence and slightly criminal mind. Not wanting to just be Matthew’s “arm candy”, Frankie systematically takes over the secret society, unbeknownst to its members, and masterminds the best pranks the society has executed in years.

I really enjoyed Frankie’s character – resourceful, smart, quick-witted,  slightly acid-tongued, and willing to risk the boyfriend she has always wanted in order to assert herself.

A Starred Review from Booklist recommends this book for grades 7-12, but there is enough sexual content that I wouldn’t want my 7th grade daughter reading it. I think it is appropriate for 10th grade and up.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Big House

A Century In The Life Of An American Summer Home

National Book Award Finalist

Author: George Howe Colt

Ratings Explanation

Sexual Content:  Grandma suffers a nervous breakdown, after the birth of of Aunt Sandy.  ”Grandpa always suspected it might have had earlier roots, in guilt Grandma felt over an affair she’d had with a family friend while living in Santa Barbara.”  When observing a beach on Cape Cod, the author, recalls his first sexual experience.  A disabled, great-uncle “got into trouble with girls.”  ”No one in the family knew exactly what that meant, since wealthy Bostonians were able to keep their scandals hushed up.  A fondness for prostitutes?  Statutory rape?”

Adult Themes:  There is a family history of mental illness.  Several family members spend time in institutions following nervous breakdowns.  The author recalls experimenting with marijuana and beer drinking.

Synopsis

George Howe Colt and his family, are faced with the sale of their family summer home on Cape Cod.  The property taxes have grown too expensive and they can no longer afford the upkeep on the century old house.  George has spent a summer month or two each year for the past forty-two years at “The Big House”.  He returns for one last stay with his wife and children, Susannah and Henry.  George laments the loss of future summer memories for his children.  He weaves five generations of family history with his childhood’s summer memories into his final visit.  He savors his family’s delightful memories and confronts the less desirable.  In addition to George’s family history and a glimpse of Bostonian social structure, he provides a brief history of Cape Cod,  beautiful architectural descriptions, and details of local flora and fauna.

I enjoyed this detailed account of Howe’s family history and the loss of their century old summer home. 

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 4

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne Collins

The Second Book of The Hunger Games

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Katniss witnesses an older man from District 11 forced to his knees in front of the crowd, and a bullet put through his head.  Katniss reflects on killing Clove.  Gale is publicly whipped for hunting.  Gale’s back is a “raw, bloody slab of meat”.  Darius, District 12’s Head Peacekeeper is turned into an avox (similar to a eunuch).  Katniss is plagued with terrible nightmares.  Katniss displays her knot making skills to the Gamemakers by hanging a dummy symbolizing Seneca Crane.  Cinna creates a costume symbolizing rebellion.  He is knocked to his knees and hit with metal-studded gloves, opening gashes on his face and body.  The Peacekeepers drag Cinna’s limp body from the room and smears of blood are left on the floor.  Opponents in the Quell Games are slaughtered. Katniss tastes the blood of an opponent while swimming in the water.

Sexual Content:  Gale kisses Katniss.  Peeta and Katniss feign borderline delirious love for each other.  They kiss, dance, and try to sneak away to be alone.  Each night Peeta climbs into Katniss’ bed to hold her until she falls asleep.  Peeta does this to ward off Katniss’ nightmares associated with killing her opponents.  Katniss ponders marrying Peeta.  Cray, the Head Peacekeeper for District 12 has a habit of luring starving young women into his bed for money, which make him an object of loathing in the district.  The hungriest would gather at his door at nightfall, vying for the chance to earn a few coins to feed their families by selling their bodies.  ”Finnick is one of the most stunning, sensuous people on the planet.  He’s draped in a golden net that’s strategically knotted at his groin so that he can’t technically be called naked.”  Chaff throws his arms around Katniss and gives her a big kiss right on the mouth.  Johanna Mason, from District 7 unzips her costume and steps into the elevator naked.  The light from Peeta’s costume reflects off Johanna’s bare breasts.

Adult Content:  Districts grieve for their children as they are murdered.

Summary

At the conclusion of The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark miraculously survive The Games.  They pretend to be star-crossed lovers in order to win the populous’s adoration, and both leave the arena alive.  They succeed.  However, in their quest for survival they sow the seeds of rebellion by snubbing the president and the Capitol.  Katniss is relieved to be alive, however, her life is now lonelier than ever.  President Snow makes a personal visit to Katniss and threatens her loved ones if she does not diffuse the civil unrest.  Her closest friend, Gale, keeps her at a distance.  As victors, Katniss and Peeta’s families move to the wealthy, yet empty part of town.

Katniss and Peeta announce their engagement.  Katniss is repulsed by the Capitol’s forced “Victory Tour”.  Katniss and Peeta, the victors, must visit the eleven other districts whose tributes were killed, before the next set of Games begin.  Unknowingly, Katniss and Peeta have inspired rebellion throughout the nation.  The districts they visit are full of unrest.  When, Katniss and Peeta arrive in the Capitol, the Quarter Quell is announced and Katniss and Peeta are forced to enter into the arena again.  The populous is devastated that the young lovers will now face death.  Haymitch orchestrates arena alliances for Peeta and Katniss, but does not apprise Katniss of the situation. Katniss is the symbol of rebellion.  The ending is a cliff-hanger….

I abhor cliff-hanger endings!  The sequel was not as consuming as The Hunger Games, nor was the violence as graphic.  That said, I am disturbed by the amount of violence contained in this series.  The intense violence desensitizes.  While reading this series, I am a “Deer in Headlights”.  I continue to read, because I can’t fathom that each child is really going to be killed by another child –and they are.  

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Pride and Prejudice

Author: Jane Austen

Ratings Explanation

Language: “Lord” used several times as an exclamation.

Adult Themes: Mr. Wickham and Lydia run away together and live, presumably, as husband and wife until they are discovered by Mr. Darcy. They are then convinced to marry. 

Synopsis

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

When Mr. Bingly, a handsome young man with 5,000 a year, takes a house in the Bennett’s neighborhood, hearts are a flutter and Mrs. Bennett predicts that he will marry one of her daughters. He immediately takes special notice of Jane, the eldest of the 5 Bennett daughters. But Mr. Bingley’s wealthy friend, Mr. Darcy, the “proudest, most disagreeable man in the world”, does not approve of the society in the country and convinces Mr. Bingley to quit Longbourn and return to London. Elizabeth, daughter number 2 of the Bennett girls, is convinced that Mr. Darcy is the cause of her sister’s ruined felicity and is determined to hate him.The story continues full of wit and vibrant, fascinating characters culminating with one the most satisfying conclusions in literature.

One of my favorite books of all time. If it has been a few years since you’ve picked it up, read it again!

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

 Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Half Broke Horses – A True Life Novel

Author: Jeannette Walls

Ratings Explanation

Language: A smattering of damn and hell throughout.

Violence:  Lily is thrown many times while breaking horses.  She is also hit by a car while crossing the street in Chicago.  Minnie, a roommate, is killed while on the job at the bottling plant when her long tresses are caught in the massive grinding gears.  Her body is severely mangled.  Lily pistol whips Ted Conover and breaks a glass door upon exiting his office.  Sexual Content:  There is an allusion to Lily’s wedding night with Ted Conover.  Rosemary swims in her underwear with Fidel Hana and a group of Indian boys at Havasupai Falls.  Rex pats Rosemary on the rump, like he owns her.

Adult Themes:  Helena commits suicide by hanging herself from the rafters in the one room school house. Lily sells bootleg booze to make ends meet. 

Summary

This is the story of Lily Casey Smith, Jeanette Wall’s grandmother.  Jeanette’s mother, Rosemary, often told Jeanette she was just like her grandmother.  Lily’s story is written in an authentic first-person voice.

Lily Casey Smith is a strong, resourceful, and bright young woman who grew up breaking horses in New Mexico.  Lily has the opportunity to attend boarding school.  She finds attaining an education is much easier and more rewarding than life on the ranch.  Unfortunately, Lily’s father gambles her tuition money away, and she is forced to return home to help run the ranch.  Lily ascertains that she has few career choices as a female in the 1940’s.  She chooses to be a teacher, and must earn her education.  Lily has the opportunity to substitute teach, without a teaching certificate.  She is thrilled; at age fifteen years old, she rides her horse five hundred miles, alone, to Northern Arizona to teach in a one room school house.  She is ultimately fired at the end of World War II, because she lacks her teaching certificate and qualified teachers are returning home from the war seeking positions.  Lily then seeks adventure in the big city of Chicago.  Her dear friend and roommate is killed.  Lily marries a smooth talking, traveling salesman, only to find that he already has a wife and family.  She is hit by a car.  Lily heads back to Arizona to teach and races horses on the weekends to earn extra money. Lily learns to drive a car and fly a plane.  Her younger sister, Helen, finds herself in a precarious position as a pregnant young woman in Hollywood.  She travels to Lily’s one room school house to avoid the shame of traveling home to her parents in New Mexico.  Overwhelmed with her predicament, she commits suicide.  Lily grapples with her sister’s death.  She marries Jim Smith, a descendant of Mormon Polygamists.  Lily and Jim raise two children and Lily earns her degree.  Lily and Jim run a vast ranch in Arizona.  Lily survives many challenges throughout her life and masters the art of grace.  She witnesses her daughter’s poor decision to marry a volatile man.  She inevitably experiences the pain and consequences associated with parenting.

 I loved this book!  I adore strong heroines who confront challenges.  Lily doesn’t make any excuses, she continues to progress in spite of serious set backs.  This book is a must read!

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Climbing the Stairs

Author: Padma Venkatraman

 Ratings Explanation

Language: “Son of a prostitute” used as a curse. Vidya’s father is referred to as an “idiot” once he is injured. The story takes place during WWII and the Japanese are referred to as “Japs.” India and her resources “raped” by British. “Slut” used in reference to Vidya.

Violence: British policemen attack Indian protesters. A woman is hit repeatedly with a stick and her sari is torn off, exposing her breasts. Vidya’s father picks up the injured woman to protect her and he is then beaten. His injuries result in severe brain damage. Vidya’s teacher canes her hand for lying. 

Sexual Content: Women are banished to an outhouse during their period. The extended family lives together with the women sleeping on the bottom floor and the men sleeping upstairs. The married couples take turns spending nights in the “couples room.” A “sweaty night meeting” referred to in the couples room. When Vidya’s cousin gets married, “consumating the marriage” is mentioned.

Adult Themes: The caste system in WWII India. Servants of lower castes are not allowed in the kitchen or dining room or to drink from the same cups as their social superiors.  British Imperialism. The British generally treat the Indians poorly, call them derogatory names. Gender issues. Arranged marriages. Women serve men.

Synopsis

At a time when the world is at war, 15-year-old Vidya lives a happy life with her family. She loves school and wants very much to attend college, but that is almost unheard of in 1941 India, where girls are expected to marry and have children, not get an education. Her father, however, promises that Vidya will get her wish.

When Vidya and her father are caught in an Indian protest against the British occupation, he is beaten by British police while trying to help an injured woman. His injuries are so severe that he can no longer provide for his family and they are forced to move in with Vidya’s grandfather and their extended family. In this traditional household, Vidya is terrified that she will be married off and never realize her dream of getting an education, but when she meets a young man living in the same house, her feelings about marriage begin to change.

This book takes an interesting look at WWII British-occupied India. My knowledge of India is lacking and I enjoyed learning a little more about their culture and the non-violent resistance movement aimed at gaining their independence from England.

I am always drawn to books with strong female characters and I admired Vidya’s persistence and determination. This is a good book to spark a discussion on women’s rights and roles in society and history. 

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 2

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Author: Alan Bradley

Winner of The Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award

Ratings Explanation

Language: Several (about 15) swear words.

Violence: Flavia discovers a dead body in her cucumber patch. A man grabs a girl from behind and puts his hand over her mouth. A character is kidnapped, bound hand and foot, and gagged. As the mystery is solved there is a short description of how it occurred. Another murder long ago is discovered and it is also briefly described.

Adult Themes: Flavia lies frequently. There is family strife between her and her sisters. Flavia’s mother died when she was an infant. She has no memories of her mother and sometimes suffers because she feels little love in her family.

Synopsis

Upon finding a murdered stranger in her cucumber patch, Flavia de Luce commets, “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This  was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

So begins the mystery that 11-year old Flavia is determined to solve. A budding scientist and an expert on poisons, Flavia is unafraid and adept at ferreting out clues and suspects in this murder mystery full of twists and turns. Young and old alike will adore and respect spunky Flavia who is clever beyond her years.

I do love a good mystery and I thoroughly enjoyed The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Although not classified as “youth” literature, 11-year-old Flavia will appeal to young readers. This is the first in new series and I am already looking forward to the next book.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 3

Sexuality: 3

Adult Themes: 3

Title:  Shabanu – Daughter of the Winds

Author:  Suzanne Fisher Staples

1990 Newberry Honor Book/Readers Circle

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Rape is common place.  Nazir, the greedy landowner rapes and then sends the young girls home with money for their family.  The vultures circle and rip an ailing camel apart, feasting on the live camel.  Shabanu aids the camel’s fetus and saves it’s life.  Kalu and Tipu fight to be the stud camel of the herd.  Shabanu’s father beats her for trying to escape her impending marriage to an older man.  Hamir’s father is found dead in a well.  Hamir is shot by Nazir.

 Sexuality: There are descriptions of Phulan and Shabanu experiencing puberty, periods, emerging chests etc.  Shabanu wonders what sex will be like for her.  The stud camel impregnates the herd.  There are descriptions of the camels mating.

Adult Themes:  Shabanu is promised in marriage as a child, betrothed at eleven years of age, and then married at twelve years of age.  Daughters belong to their future mother in-laws.  Dowries and, in some instances, a bride price is paid.  Shabanu is the solution for a settlement between two families and is not given a choice.  Grandfather dies and is buried.  While traveling, the family comes across a deceased traveler who could not find water.  

Summary

Shabanu is an eleven year old girl living in Cholistan, the windswept desert border region of Pakistan and India.  Shabanu’s family lives in a mud hut in the desert and owns a herd of camels.  They live a free existence in the desert, as long as there is water in the pond (“toba” ).  When the toba dries, they move to a village with a deep well, awaiting the monsoon season.  Each year they travel across the desert to Sibi, where they sell their camels and buy the goods they need.

Phulan is Shabanu’s older sister.  Phulan is graceful, beautiful and betrothed to Hamir, a young man in a village nearby.  Shabanu is promised to Murad, Hamir’s younger brother.  The girls are excited to have such good fortune, to marry into the same family, and be near one another throughout their lives.

Shabanu is annoyed with her sister’s ego-centric behavior, “All about the Bride.”  Shabanu seeks solace in the desert from Phulan’s demands.  Shabanu cares for the camels, and her parents allow her much freedom.  She is not confined to housework and has a camel, Guluband, that she teaches to dance.

Shabanu accompanies her father to Sibi to sell the camels.  Her father receives an offer he can’t refuse for Guluband.  He sells Shabanu’s beloved camel and her is heart broken.  However, her father now has enough money for both of his daughters’ dowries.  They return home to prepare for the upcoming wedding by buying and sewing beautiful clothes and making a pilgrimage to Channan Pir.  Shabanu meets her mother’s cousin, Sharma, and her daughter, Fatima. Sharma left her abusive husband for an independent existence in the desert, raising goats and sheep. Shabanu wishes she could steal away to live a wild and free life in the desert with Sharma and Fatima.  Shabanu’s grandfather wanders off in a dust storm and dies two days later.  Shabanu’s family buries grandfather and travels toward the wedding in Mehrabpur, where Hamir’s family lives.

Hamir’s family purchased their land from Nazir Mohammad. Hamir’s family labored many years to make the land fertile. Nazir Mohammad is trying to force Hamir’s family to give him back the now fertile land.  Shabanu and Phulan come across Nazir Mohammad and his friends while returning from bathing.  The men see the girls and desire to take Phulan and rape her. Shabanu rescues Phulan and they ride to their campsite on a camel.  Everyone is fearful of Nazir Mohammad.  Nazir killed Hamir’s father.  Hamir attempts to shoot him Nazir and is killed.

The “Police”, the Desert Rangers,  gather the families to settle the dispute. Nazir Mohammad’s brother, Rahim- sahib, is a politician and wants to settle the dispute quickly.  The dispute is settled: Phulan will marry Murad (Shabanu’s promised) immediately and Nazir Mohammad will leave the family alone.  Rahim-sahib, will then take Shabanu as his fourth wife in a year.

Shabanu is devastated. She endures Phulan’s wedding. Sharma counsels Shabanu to learn to manipulate and control her future husband, but remain true to herself.  She will need to keep her heart hidden from him.  Shabanu has a short time before her betrothal and she is tempted to escape into the desert with Sharma and Fatima.  When Shabanu’s period begins, she hides it from her parents.  She must marry soon after it arrives.  Shabanu decides to escape.  The camel breaks a leg during the escape and Shabanu waits for her father’s arrival.  He violently beats her.  Shabanu is silent during the beating.  She resigns herself to her fate, but she carefully guards her inner happiness in her heart.  She marries.

This book is written at a 5th Grade level.  However, I would not recommend reading it until at least junior high, due to the more mature content.  Humera Diwan, my friend from Karachi, Pakistan, and my Boulder Book Group friend, chose this book a few years ago for discussion.  We had a fascinating discussion as we learned more about the culture of the people who live in the Cholistan Region of Pakistan.  I do love this eye opening book.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 3

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes: 3

Title: The Help

Author: Kathryn Stockett

Ratings Explanation

Language: Frequent swearing and profanity. Racial slurs. Several uses of the word “nigger”.

Violence: Very brief description of the murder of Medgar Evers. One of the characters is beaten by her husband. A naked man comes into the yard of a home and the maid goes out with a knife to scare him off. When she falls down, he advances on her and another woman hits him with a fire poker several times.

Sexual Content: Description of the naked man, he touches himself, dances and runs around, flopping.

Adult Themes:  1960s race relations and civil rights. Domestic violence. A couple breaks up because the girl slept with someone else. A character briefly considers going away for the weekend with her boyfriend, and what that would mean.

Synopsis

 The Help is told in the voices of three different women in Jackson, Mississippi. Skeeter has graduated from Ole Miss and has moved back home. Her mother never stops criticizing her and nags her constantly to find a husband. Skeeter lands a job writing the housecleaning tips column at the local paper. Completely unprepared to tell anyone how to clean anything, she goes to her friend’s maid, Aibileen, for help.

Aibileen has raised 17 white children and loves Mae Mobley, who she cares for now. Her only son died in an accident at work and his white boss tossed his dead body on the curb at the colored hospital. Aibileen dreads the day when little Mae Mobley will “start to think that colored folks ain’t as good as whites” so she tells Mae Mobley secret stories about a Martian. “What’s his name?” Mae Mobley asks. “Martin Luther King,” replies Aibileen.

Minny is Aibileen’s best friend, but they couldn’t be more different. While Aibileen is reserved and polite, Minny is brash and sassy. Her uncontrollable tongue has cost her 19 jobs and when she sasses the wrong lady, it looks like she might not find work in Jackson again.

Very different on the outside, these three women come together to accomplish something that changes them on the inside. This secret project puts them all in danger, and eventually changes each of their lives, but it is something that must be done, because some risks are worth taking.

The Help is full of emotion. It is at times frustrating, funny, uplifting and heartbreaking, and I thoroughly enjoyed each page. The way the women of Jackson are portrayed is eye-opening, but the story feels balanced as well. The book is about social ideas in the south in the 1960s, but most of all it is about women and their relationships with each other.  Many relationships between women are explored, high school girlfriends who are now grown up, white women and their maids, mothers and daughters, girls and the maids who raise them, and the friendship that develops between Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny.  Skeeter sums up when she says, “Wasn’t that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought.”

A wonderful lesson, if only we could all learn it.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 4

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Author: Muriel Barbery

New York Times Bestseller

Ratings Explanation

Language: Several swear words and references to deity. 2 F-words.

Sexual Content: An incident between a male and a female dog in the elevator. Discussion about the sexual activities of bees.

Adult Themes: A 12-year girl contemplates suicide. Family tension. Perceptions of people based solely on socio-economic status.

Synopsis

Renee, the 54-year old concierge of an upscale apartment building in Paris, is frumpy and dimwitted, as far as the wealthy tenants know. What they would never suspect is that Renee is intelligent, funny and well versed in literature and art.

Paloma, the insightful 12-year old daughter of one of the wealthy families in the building, also has a secret. Disgusted with her pampered life and her ridiculously myopic family, Paloma has decided to commit suicide on her 13th birthday.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is narrated by these two, seemingly unrelated, female voices.  Renee is unmercifully critical of the wealthy, who alternately judge and ignore her, without knowing a single thing about her. Paloma is extremely intelligent and sensitive and through her journals, is searching for a reason to continue living. Eventually brought together by a perceptive new tenant in the building, these two kindred souls find and appreciate each other, when others fail to do so.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.  Alternately philosophical, witty and poignant, I was engaged from the very beginning. Barbery’s writing is beautiful and elevated (you may want to keep a dictionary handy), but also clever and funny. Renee and Paloma are endearing and I loved them both. Who can resist Renee who says, “I may be indigent in name, position, and appearance, but in my own mind I am an unrivaled goddess.” She absolutely won my heart when she offered a full-page diatribe on the wanton misplacement of a comma. 

This book gave me a number of things to contemplate, including the question of class and the assumptions people make based solely on outward appearances, but it also makes a point of expressing that it is never too late to change the way we “see” other people. We each have the potential to touch someone’s life in a positive way and if we are open to it, friendship can  surface in the most unlikely places. 

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 4

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Author: David Wroblewski

Ratings Explanation

Language: 4 F-words, abundant profanity and swearing.

Violence: Fist fight between two grown men (brothers). Dogs are intentionally poisoned. Two characters killed by lethal injection. A deer is shot with a rifle. Character falls down the stairs and dies.

Sexual Content: An unmarried couple lives together and references are made about them sleeping together. 

Adult Themes: A tense relationship between two brothers. A boy witnesses his father’s death.  He must come to terms with losing his father and with his mother’s relationship with another man. Grown men drink and smoke. Murder.

Synopsis

Edgar Sawtelle and his parents live on an idyllic farm in Wisconsin where they breed and train Sawtelle dogs, an evolving breed that is exceptionally companionable, well behaved and intuitive. Edgar was born without the ability to speak, but he learns to sign and develops his own unique language. Edgar’s dog Almondine is his constant companion and epitomizes the traits they try to perpetuate in all of the Sawtelle dogs.

When Edgar’s father dies suddenly, he and his mother are left to run the farm. The work is far too much for the two of them to handle alone, but the reappearance of Edgar’s uncle Claude is not entirely welcome.  Although he lightens the work load, what does he want exactly? Is he trying to take over the farm he grew up on? As Edgar observes Claude, he is convinced that Claude had a role in his father’s death, but he has no real evidence. When an elaborate plan to expose Claude backfires, Edgar must leave the farm. Edgar and three dogs survive in the wilderness until he is compelled to face his father’s murderer.

Although an interesting book, I did not love this first novel by Wroblewski. At the beginning of the book I felt the language was a bit contrived, like he was trying too hard to be a good writer, but as the book progressed his writing seemed to improve (or I just got used to it). His writing is very slow paced, which isn’t a bad thing, but it felt drawn out in places. Billed by some as a modern-day Hamlet, I wasn’t incredibly surprised by the ending, but, although prepared, I was disappointed. In my opinion, the author took the easy way out and escaped the difficult task of resolving all of the problems and tying up the loose ends.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 0

Title: The Sinking of the Bismarck

Author: William L. Shirer

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Naval battles, shooting guns, dropping torpedoes, explosions. Injuries and death resulting from battles, but no gore.

Synopsis

William L. Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, recounts Britain’s quest to find and destroy the Bismarck, Germany’s greatest battleship in WWII. Full of stratagem and battles, this historical account is sure to hold the interest of youth interested in WWII.

My husband found this 1962 copy on my parents’ bookshelf last time we visited them and we started reading it aloud to the kids on the drive back to our house. Our sleepy 7-year old dozed off and missed the first several chapters and never really got interested in it, but our 12 and 10-year olds were hooked. There are many ships and captains to keep track of, but it is quite exciting, and we all enjoyed learning this part of WWII history. This book could definitely be used as a source for a research paper.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

 Violence: 0

 Sexual Content: 4

 Adult Themes: 3

Title:  The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

Author:  Ann Brashares

Ratings Explanation

Sexual Content:  Carmen’s mother, Christina, sleeps with her boyfriend, David.  Kostas and Lena spend an amorous night pushing the limits.  She desires him, but he restrains himself to be a “gentleman”.  When Lena breaks up with Kostas, “the rebound girl” becomes pregnant.  Kostas leaves Lena and returns to Greece to marry the girl.  Carmen spends a lot of energy describing Paul, her father’s attractive stepson.   Brian, Tibby’s friend, spends the night sleeping on the floor of her dorm room.  Tibby shuns Brian’s friendship in her quest to be associated with “cool” peers.

Adult Themes:  Bridget travels to Alabama to get to know her mother’s past as she spends time with her grandmother, Greta.  Bridget grapples with her mother’s mental illness and subsequent suicide.  She also deals with her father’s distancing role in her life.  Carmen attempts to drink her sorrows away, only to become drunk.  Carmen learns to meld the multi-faceted roles of her single mother.  Lena confronts her mother about Eugene, a long lost romance.

Synopsis

The pants make a second summer’s tour through four young girls’ lives: Bridget, Lena, Tibby and Carmen.  The girls each experience the tumult of relationships with their family, friends and those they love as they mature and learn from their summer’s adventure.

I found this book to be very light and packed with romantic drivel. Intense grappling throughout.  Unfortunately, this type of literature is extremely popular.   If you are going to spend 430 pages reading, invest your time in something more substantive.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 2

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Author: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Ratings Explanation

Language: Swearing and use of the names of Deity.

Violence:  The story takes place during and after WWII. Bombings and some war time violence. Abuse of slave workers and those in a concentration camp. One character is shot while in a concentration camp.

Sexual Content: Mention made of brothels and the women who work in them.

Adult Themes: War. Death of loved ones. One of the characters is homosexual.

Synopsis

Juliet Ashton is a writer, but in post-WWII England she is tired of writing about the war. While longing for something different to settle her mind upon,  she receives a curious letter from Guernsey. A Mr. Dawsey Adams, who is in the possession of a book Juliette once owned, writes to ask her help in locating more of the author’s works and his biography, as there are no longer any bookstores on Guernsey. Through this encounter, Juliette becomes acquainted with several of Guernsey’s inhabitants. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is composed entirely of letters written between the characters in the book, and through them the story of the German occupation of Guernsey unfolds. Juliette’s wit and humor along with interesting characters and happenings, keep this war-time book from feeling heavy and sad.

This is the perfect book to curl up with on the couch. While heartbreaking in many ways, I fell in love with the characters and the details about them. My favorite character was the eccentric Isola, followed closely by her claustrophobic and jealous parrot Zenobia.

As a book lover myself, another enjoyable aspect is the part that literature plays in the lives of the characters. During the war, literature lifted their spirits and helped make life bearable.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 3

Violence: 3

Sexual Content:4

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy

Author: L.A. Meyer

Ratings Explanation

Language: Quite a lot of swearing and some references to deity. Vulgar and mildly offensive phrases (piss off, sod off). Terms referring to sexual relations between boys and men. The schoolmaster teaches the ship’s boys vocabulary words each day and one day the words are, “buggery, sodomy and pederasty.” He teaches these words to “protect them from the sin.” The reader does not receive the definitions of these words.

Violence: 13 year-old girl is hanged in the gallows for stealing. She is not heavy enough to break her neck so the executioner has to jump on her shoulders. Charlie, the leader of Mary’s gang, is killed. Jack is beaten up several times. She is hit and kicked, her ribs are broken and her teeth nearly knocked out. The HMS Dolphin attacks a pirate ship, there are dead bodies and blood everywhere. Jack shoots a pirate in the chest with a pistol and he dies. Sailors and pirates die. Jack stabs a sailor while he is trying to rape  her. He staggers and falls over the side of the ship to his death. Jack is hanged, but is rescued before she dies. The pirate captain’s head is cut off to be displayed on the British ship.

Sexual Content: Irish girls took Spanish sailors “to their hearts and their beds.” The ship’s priest explains “sins of the flesh” in order to protect the boys from what the men on the ship could do to them. No details are given, but the subject is raised. Later Jack asks him to explain “the way of a lad with a maid.” He won’t explain and he tells the boys to go to “the tarts for their lessons in lechery and get the pox.” When the ship comes into port, brothels and loose women are mentioned. The other sailors think that Jack has gone into a brothel and they tease him. In reality Jack went into the brothel to ask a woman to give her a female education and explain the ways of a man with a maid. Innuendo about men being with boys on the ship.  Jack, who is actually a girl pretending to be a boy, catches the eye of a lecherous  sailor. He watches her and slaps her bottom. He comes up behind her, pins her at the ship’s railing and “grinds against” her. He eventually catches her alone and forcibly lays on top of her, he kisses her then pulls down her pants and touches her, at which time he discovers her real gender. This is when she stabs him. Once Jamie knows that Jack is a girl, they kiss and wrap arms and legs around each other. They sleep together in the same hammock. Jamie wants to do more with her, but she holds him off.

Adult Themes: Mary is left an orphan and has to fend for herself in a gang of orphans. The orphans steal to stay alive. Jack begins to mature and starts menstruating. She doesn’t know why she is bleeding and thinks she is dying. When they go ashore the ship’s boys get drunk, get tattoos and pierce their ears. Homosexuality. Sexual abuse.

Synopsis

Mary Faber is left an orphan when her parents and sister die of the plague. With no one to care for her, she joins a gang of orphans and learns to steal and beg to survive.  When Charlie, the leader of their gang, is killed, Mary takes the opportunity to start a new life. She dons Charlie’s clothes and takes to the seas as Jack Faber,  ship’s boy on the HMS Dolphin. Maintaining “The Deception” on board the ship provides many challenges, but she is able to conceal her identity and endears herself to the other boys and many of the sailors. The HMS Dolphin is looking for pirates and when they find them, Jacky is as brave as any of the boys, and braver than some of the men.

This is a difficult book to rate because the story is engaging, but there is enough inappropriate content that I can’t recommend it. As I was reading the book, it was obvious that an encounter with Sloat, the sailor who is taken with Jack, was imminent. I was so nervous about it happening that I couldn’t enjoy the story until it was resolved. Publishers Weekly recommends the book for children 12 and up. I have a 12 year old and I would strongly discourage her from reading this book. I am listing Bloody Jack as appropriate for high school age, but I don’t recommend it.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  Water Song:  A Retelling of “The Frog Prince”

 Author: Suzanne Weyn

Ratings Explanation

Language: A couple of common swear words and two uses of the name of deity.

Violence: War violence, gun fire, bombing, poisonous gas.  Describes some suffering of the soldiers that were gassed while in the trenches.  Jack is seriously injured from the gas.  His skin is peeling and eyes are swollen shut.  One soldier’s pockets are stuffed with rocks and then he is shot and thrown into a pond.  Emma and Jack’s lives are both threatened if they do not cooperate with the enemy.  During their escape, both Jack and Emma are shot at.  Emma is wounded.

Sexual Content:  Jack asks for a kiss several times throughout the story.

Adult Themes:  The setting of the story is during WWI.  Bombing and gun shots are a common background to everything.  Emma’s mother is killed during a bombing.  Back home no one has heard from Emma or her dead mother and some assume the mother has run off with someone.  Emma is asked to be a spy and betray her country by giving information to the enemy.  A younger Jack was accused of pick pocketing.  Jack’s mother was a type of witch doctor who used chants, dreams and herbs to help heal others.

Synopsis:

Thinking they are safe from the war, a beautiful, young Emma and her mother travel from their native England to visit the family estate in Belgium.  Unfortunately the war front is closer than expected and Emma’s mother is killed during a bombing attack.  Emma is unable to get home to her father and must remain at the estate with an elderly couple who are the caretakers and her only companions.  One day a rare letter arrives.  It is from her boyfriend who writes to say he is breaking off their relationship because of rumors that her mother has run away with another man.  Infuriated, Emma tosses his picture, contained in an heirloom locket, down a nearby well.   After cooling off, she remembers that the locket also contained the only pictures she has of her parents.  Desperate, she climbs down the well to retrieve her necklace.  Before coming to the bottom, Emma is surprised to find that someone else is already there.  His eyes are large and swollen, his skin is peeling and he cannot talk without having a severe coughing fit.  She decides to help him out of the well and ask the caretakers to nurse him back to health.  Upon coming out of the well, Emma and her new patient are greeted by armed German soldiers then ordered to return to the estate.  The estate has been taken over by the German army who is using its impressive views to monitor the battle fields below.  Emma and the injured man, Jack, are locked in the master bedroom.  Only a caretaker is allowed in and out to bring in food and care for Jack.  As Jack recovers, he begs Emma to give him a kiss.  She is repulsed by his looks and forwardness and refuses him.  This odd ritual continues on a daily basis. Emma finally promises to be his true friend and Jack is satisfied.  Eventually, Emma is allowed to visit the local market accompanied by guards to get supplies and pick up any useful information for the German soldiers.  She is tempted to escape but remembers her promise to be Jack’s true friend.  As tensions build at the estate, Emma and Jack learn to get along and enjoy each others company.  The soldiers soon tire of their prisoners and plan to kill them.  Jack and Emma have gained useful information about the Germans and know they must escape as soon as possible.  They also have gained more than a friendship and discover that they truly love each other.  After many close calls they reach the safety of a neighboring town and continue to help the allied forces win the war and give peace to the war-torn land.

This book is part of a series called Once Upon a Time. Each book is a retelling of a different fairy tale.   I enjoyed this retelling of the not so common Frog Prince.  The WWI European setting was a unique time period for this story.  I thought that the  author’s develpment of Jack as the  Frog Prince was very clever and realistic.  I also appreciated that the author included the underlying moral of the classic tale.  You really can’t judge a book (or frog) by its cover.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 4

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 4

Title:  David Kherdian

Author: The Road From Home – A True Story of Courage, Survival, and Hope

Newberry Honor Book

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  September 16, 1916 – To the Government of Aleppo.  “It was first communicated to you that the government, by order of the Jemiet, had decided to destroy completely all the Armenians living in Turkey…An end must be put to their existence, however criminal the measures taken may be, and no regard must be paid to either age or sex nor to conscientious scruples.”  An extermination order against the Christian minority, the Armenians, was put into force by the Turks.  The Armenians were deported from their homes. ” The youngest Armenian boys were circumcised and converted to Islam, while the older boys were sold into slavery.  The women who converted to Islam were attached to harems; those who did not were raped and then either murdered or sold to the Arabs.  On the death march, the older people began to fall down, but no one was allowed to stop and help them.  The Turkish gendarmes then rode back and shot the elderly who had collapsed.  When they march through Kurd territory, the gendarmes stood aside while the Kurds robbed the caravans and defiled the women.  The gendarmes also traveled from tent to tent through the camps taking the most attractive women into town.  None who were taken, returned.  Veron’s mother says, ” Our executioner is everchanging, but always death awaits its task.”  The Armenians are infested with lice and then cholera decimates their camp.  Veron is injured in a bombing and loses part of her calf.  The archbishop is brutally murdered.  The Turks burn the city to the ground.  They burn people alive in their homes, and the smell of burning flesh hovers in the air.  Dead bodies are removed from the road to drive the auto.  The Turkish soldiers throw kerosene on a raft in the harbor and burn the people alive.  “The Armenian people, nearly half a million human beings, were herded into an area a mile and one half long and not more than a hundred feet wide.  The Armenians jumped in the harbor, hoping to swim to the ships.”  The Italians took people aboard, but the English poured boiling water down the sides of the ship on the people (apparently, a sign of neutrality?).  The Americans lined up with their movie cameras filming.  The Turkish soldiers came through the Armenians huddled on the wharf, carrying off the young women and girls.

Sexual Content:  (Rape is included under violence.)  Veron becomes engaged and then has a bad feeling about the impending marriage.  She breaks the engagement and saves her family name from disrespect. 

Adult Themes:  Veron’s father’s business was harvesting and selling the gum that was used in making opium.  The girls were second class citizens, “When a girl dies, the ground must approve; while she lives, the public must approve.”After Varon is orphaned, her extended family treats her horrribly.  She chooses to go to an orphanage where she will receive an education.  The cousins never visited her, not once!  Many of the young girls who arrive at the orphanage were rescued from Arab harems by the British.  They arrived in the orphanage with little blue tattoos on their cheek or forehead.  When Veron is injured and needs help getting out of the wagon, she asks her aunt for help.  Her aunt “turned and looked at me without speaking and I saw a look of hatred come into her face.  You should have died instead of my children, they are dead, and now you have become my burden – thanks to your grandmother.”  A kind Greek general tries to adopt Veron.  She runs away to the Armenian Archbishop, where she receives help.

Synopsis

Veron Demhjian Kherdian was born into a prosperous Christian Armenian Family.  In 1915, the Turkish Government began to systematically exterminate the Armenian population.  The author, David Kherdian shares the story of his mother’s childhood interrupted by a devastating holocaust.  Veron and her family are forced on a death march by the Turkish gendarmes.  Veron is orphaned, as she witnesses the deaths of her family and friends.  Veron realizes that she will need to take risks to ensure a future for herself.  Veron’s courage ultimately results in her survival.

I love stories with a strong heroine!  Veron witnessed many atrocities, yet she remained resilient and courageous.  Veron took her future into her own hands as she ultimately chose to come to the U.S. as a mail-order bride.  Veron wanted to belong to the U.S. “because at that moment, the darkest of my life, foreign dignitaries had been searching for their citizens and offering them safety.  I wanted to belong to a country that cared for its people in that way, and had the power to ensure their safety, even in time of war.”  

I could not put this book down.  I recommend this book for adults as well as junior high level readers.  I love this quote, “What you learn in childhood is carved on stone; what you learn in old age is carved on ice.”

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 0

Title:  In Defense of Food – An Eater’s Manifesto

Author: Michael Pollan

Synopsis

Food.  There’s plenty  of it around, and we all love to eat it.  So why should anyone need to defend it?  Because most of what we’re consuming today is not food.  Instead, we are consuming “edible foodlike substance” – no longer the products of nature, but of food science.  Pollan urges us to once again eat food, by challenging the prevailing nutrient-by-nutrient approach, what he calls nutritionism.  Pollan urges us to escape the Western Diet and the many chronic diseases the diet causes.  Pollan sets forth a few guidelines, below are a few that are just plain common sense.

 1. Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

2.  Avoid food products containing ingredients that are A) Unfamiliar, B) Unpronounceable C) More than five in number, or that include D) high-fructose corn syrup.

3.  Avoid food products that make health claims.

4.  Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.

This book came highly recommended by my sister-in-law, Arielle.  Arielle is a professional athlete, who earned a degree in exercise science with an emphasis on strength and conditioning from Brigham Young University. 

Arielle Martin Verhaaren

2008 UCI SX World Cup Champion

http://go211.com/u/ariellemartin

 This book has completely changed my family’s eating habits.  After finishing the book, I spent a day reading the ingredient labels on all the food items stocked in our pantry, refrigerator, freezer and food storage room.  I was stunned by the sheer number of foods labeled with the following phrases: “high fructose corn syrup”, “partially hydrogenated”, “palm oil” as well as many ingredients I had difficulty pronouncing.  I am spending much of my “shopping trips” deciphering the content of ingredient labels.  Seriously, can you believe there is high fructose corn syrup in chocolate milk?  I feel enlightened regarding the history of nutritionism in America.  I am now prioritizing preparing healthier meals for my family.  Pollan’s chapter entitled, “Eat Food: Food Defined” is practical and common sense.  Eat Food.  Not too much.  Mostly Plants. 

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language:2

Violence: 5

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 4

Title: Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Author: Immaculee Ilibagiza

Language: Only a couple of profanities and swear words. Hateful and violent language such as the Hutu killers chanting “Kill them, kill them all” as they go through the neighborhoods hunting Tutsis. Tutsis referred to as cockroaches by the ruling government as well as the killers. Verbal propaganda.

Violence: The Rwandan Government orders Hutus to kill all of the Tutsis, even the old and the babies. Nearly one million Tutsis are killed within three months. Tutsis seeking refuge in churches and stadiums are massacred. A mother is killed and her baby left to die. Heaps of dead bodies on the streets where dogs eat the rotting corpses. Many are hacked to death with machetes. A woman is raped while her husband and children are forced to watch, then they are all killed. Human limbs are cut off and babies are killed.

Sexual Content: Women are raped, but there are no descriptions of this violence.

Adult Themes: Ethnic cleansing. Long time neighbors and friends turn on each other. The horrors of what humans are capable of doing to each other.

Synopsis

In 1994, 22 year-old Immaculee is home from college to spend the Easter holiday with her family when the death of Rwanda’s Hutu president sets off a massacre of ethnic Tutsis. Over the course of three months, nearly 1 million Tutsis are killed. In order to survive, Imaculee hides in the tiny bathroom of a Hutu pastor along with seven other Tutsi women. Terrified that they will be found and murdered, Imaculee turns to God for protection and comfort. She prays for hours every day and is eventually able to forgive those who are hunting down and killing the Tutsis in her country. Once they are able to leave their hiding place, Imaculee must discover the fate of her family and build an entirely new life.

This is an amazing story of faith. Although there are many descriptions of the atrocities committed, the focus of the book is Imaculee’s personal transformation and what she learns through this horrific experience. Her ability to forgive and move on is inspiring and helped put my own challenges in perspective. I highly recommend this book for adults.

©2009 The Literate Mother

 Language: 2

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie

Author: David Lubar

Ratings Explanation

Language: Instances of swearing and profanity, also “screw you.”

Violence: Upper classmen pick on Freshmen, dump their backpacks out, smack them in the head and take their lunch money. Fights at school with punching and kicking.

Sexual Content: There is a cute girl at school who always wears tight tops and is “hot.” Scott would do anything for her because she looks so great in her shirts.

Adult Themes: A student attempts suicide and the school kids make jokes about it.

Synopsis

Scott Hudson’s freshman year in high school is off to quite a start. There is homework on the first day of school, the girl he has known since kindergarten is suddenly gorgeous, and keeping his own lunch money is a challenge. To top it all off, his mother announces that she is pregnant! Scott decides to share his hard fought wisdom about surviving high school with his future sibling via a diary that’s not really a diary, because guys don’t keep diaries. As Scott learns to navigate the mine field that is high school, he runs for student government, befriends the school thug and the “weird” girl, joins the newspaper staff and tries out for the school play. By the end of the year he has a wealth of knowledge to share with the new baby.

Sometimes sad, sometimes poignant, but mostly funny, I laughed through Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie. My favorite part is the steady parade of Spanish teachers who either don’t speak Spanish (the gym teacher who can only count in Spanish so they spend the period doing push-ups), speak Spanish with a French or Australian accent, or don’t speak any English at all and communicate with hand gestures. Although funny, Scott learns several life lessons that are applicable to everyone. Even annoying people have feelings so be nice to them; you might not know what is going on in their lives. Be careful how you label others, sometimes the most surprising people end up being your best friends. You might not know your family as well as you think you do, so pay attention.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  At Home in Mitford

Author:  Jan Karon

Ratings Explanation

Language:  A few common swear words and liberal use of the name of deity.  Two uses of the word nigger from some unkind and prejudiced town folk.

Violence:  School boys fighting.  Officer shot during an attempted drug bust. 

Sexual Content:  Alludes to two out-of-wedlock pregnancies.  Father Tim has a strong desire to kiss the woman next door.

Adult Themes:  Racial prejudice, alcoholic mother giving up her five children, burglary, drug making, death of spouse and serious health issues.  All of these are tastefully mentioned and not elaborated on.

Synopsis

Father Tim, rector of 12 years for the small North Carolina town of Mitford, is finding himself a little burned out and feeling empty at the end of the day.  His doctor and secretary have repeatedly encouraged him to take some time for himself, but to Father Tim, caring for his parishioners is a full time job.  However, help comes to him in the strangest ways. First is a new companion, in the form of a  sofa-sized homeless dog, that is liberal with his affectionate and slobbery kisses and controlled only through the reciting of scripture.  Second is an ill-mannered,  eleven year old mountain boy, Dooley, who has been living with his grandfather until his recent bout with pneumonia.   Then there is Puny Bradshaw, the house help hired by the parish to care for their beloved rector, that takes her job more serious than most.  Mix in a jewel thief, a sixty year old mystery, a heart transplant patient, and an attractive new neighbor and Father Tim ends up needing to take a real vacation in the end.

  This book is not an attention grabbing page turner.   It is rather like sipping a relaxing cup of hot cocoa, and snuggling in a warm blanket on a rainy day.  It was a breath of fresh air and a reminder of true humanity and neighborly love. 

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: A Mango-Shaped Space

Author: Wendy Mass

Winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award,  honoring artistic expression of the disability experience

Ratings Explanation

Language: 2 instances of profanity

Sexual Content: Molly grows breasts over the summer and she is not going to hide it. Boys look at her. Mia’s doctor asks her if she has begun menstruating yet. Mia communicates with a boy in a chat room and when they meet in person he almost immediately asks to kiss her. Mia lets him.

Adult Themes: Jenna is coping with her mother’s death and her father dating. Mia lies occasionally then tries to make up for it by doing good deeds. Adam, age 14, discloses in an email that he got drunk on egg nog and threw up a lot. Coping with losing a pet.

Synopsis

Mia has always seen colors associated with numbers, letters and sounds, but in third grade she discovers that not everyone sees what she does. Afraid of being different, Mia keeps her gift a secret until 8th grade when it interferes with her school work and she goes to her parents for help. She discovers that she has a condition called synesthesia, and that other people have it too. Encouraged that she isn’t a freak, Mia dives into the world of synesthesia by attending research weekends, chatting with other synesthetes online and trying new experiments that heighten the effects of “her colors.” As she enters this new world she leaves her family and friends behind, but when her cat Mango becomes ill she is abruptly reminded of what is truly important.

A very interesting read! I had never heard of this condition and was fascinated by what synesthetes see in their everyday lives.  A different twist on the coming-of-age story.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language:1

Violence:2

Sexual Content:0

Adult Themes:3

Title:  The Wednesday Wars

Author: Gary D. Schmidt 

2008 Newbery Honor Book

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Some name calling from fellow students. ”Death threats” from fellow students if Holling doesn’t bring them cream puffs. Unkind comments like “Go back where you came from!”, toward a Vietnamese refugee student . The coach uses phrases such as “dang, wimpy, slugs” when referring to his slow track team.  Holling uses curses he has learned from Shakespeare.  His favorites are pied ninies and toads, beetles, bats.  Holling and his classmates refer to their principal as one who is aspiring to be a dictator of a small country.

Violence:  Holling intentionally trips a school bully giving him a concussion.  The eighth graders bully the seventh graders around to show their rank in the school.  Scenes of stabbings, poisonings and other forms of murder from Shakespeare’s writings are referred to as Holling tries to connect experiences in his world to those in Shakespeare’s.

Adult Themes:  One of the students has been to jail and has several run-ins with the law for his pranks on teachers and students.  The evening news reports the poor conditions of soldiers fighting in Vietnam.  Some  marines are trapped in barracks while under heavy artillery fire.  Mention of some soldiers that are missing and killed in action.  Racial prejudice is shown by students and some adults towards a student who is a Vietnamese refugee.  Holling’s father questions the importance of religion, especially the customs of his son’s Jewish friend.  Holling’s mother is always trying to hide her smoking habit.  The eighth grade boys spend their break time smoking in the boys’ bathroom.  Holling’s father considers his appearance in the community far more important than the happiness of his family.  Holling’s sister runs away with her boyfriend to “find herself.”  When she decides it wasn’t a good idea to run away, her parents refuse to pick her up or give her help of any kind.  Holling assumes that responsibility himself. 

Synopsis

Holling Hoodhood is a seventh grade student living in the ‘perfect house’ on Long Island with his parents and older sister in the late sixties.  Because his father expects him to one day take over the family business Holling must be on his best behavior to keep up appearances.  The community they live in is made up primarily of Catholics and Jews.   On Wednesday, each week, the students are allowed to leave school early in the afternoon to attend activities at their local church or temple.  Holling is neither a Catholic nor a Jew.  He is a Presbyterian.  On Wednesdays he is the only student left in his class.  When his teacher, Mrs. Baker, learns of this, she tries desperately to find somewhere else for Holling to be.  Holling is convinced that Mrs. Baker truly hates him and has cleverly plotted to take him out one way or another.   When Mrs. Baker resigns to the fact that Holling has nowhere else to go but her classroom on Wednesday afternoons, she starts assigning him small chores like cleaning the erasers and rat cages.  After these chores end up with unpleasant results, Mrs. Baker resigns to the fact that Holling is there to stay and decides to teach him the plays of Shakespeare.  At first Holling is pleasantly shocked that his teacher would let him read something with so much exciting adventure and bloodshed.  But as the school year progresses, Mrs. Baker helps Holling see the lessons that this great writer was trying to teach the human race. These teaching moments become a great strength to Holling as he deals with difficult family issues, ethical decisions and the challenges of life’s ups and downs.  Mrs. Baker and Holling develop a unique and touching relationship as she helps him embrace his destiny.

I thoroughly loved this book.  The main characters were so well developed, that I feel like I would know Holling and Mrs. Baker if I saw them walking down the street.  I also appreciated the humor that Schmidt incorporated.  I found myself laughing out loud more than once.  The various situations Holling found himself in brought back memories of my teenage years and reminded me of how hard it is to grow up.  Schmidt’s story also reaffirms my appreciation for and belief in great teachers.  Everyone needs a Mrs. Baker in their life.  She is someone who sees  potential and encourages others to achieve all that they can be. 

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 5

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 5

Title:  The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

New York Times Bestselling Author

Ratings Explanation

Synopsis

Violence:  Katniss is a hunter.  She cleans her kill.  Katniss’ father is blown to bits in a mine explosion.  Katniss could be shot on a daily basis for hunting.  Peeta Mellark is brutally struck by his mother when he burns two loaves of bread and later sneaks them to Katniss, who is starving.  Peeta’s cheek swells and his eye is blackened.  As Katniss and Peeta are both drawn as tributes for District 12, Katniss thinks, “Thank you won’t seem sincere when she is trying to slit his throat.  Oh, well…  There will be twenty-four of us.  Odds are someone else will kill him before I do.”  Boys and girls from the wealthier district are trained to kill from an early age.  Katniss recounts previous Hunger Games and the manner is which the contestants die; bludgeoning one another with spiked maces, starvation, thirst, venomous snakes, extreme cold.  She also recounts extremely vicious kills.  Katniss grapples with how terrible it will be to kill another.  Haymitch punches Peeta in the jaw.  Katniss drives her knife into the table, barely missing Haymitch’s fingers.  Katniss reproaches herself constantly for falling prey to Peeta’s kindness.  “Don’t be so stupid.  Peeta is planning how to kill you, he is luring you in to make you easy prey.” The servants in the Capitol are Avox’s.  Avox’s are traitors who are punished by having their tongues cut out.  Katniss is reminded why she is in the Capitol, “to die a bloody death while the crowds urge on my killer.”  The roof of the Training Center has an electrical field surrounding, in case a tribute tries to commit suicide, the field will throw them back on the roof.  Katniss loses her temper with the Gamemaker’s ignoring of her skills.  Katniss skewers the apple in the pig’s mouth with her arrow as the Gamemaker’s look on in disbelief.  Katniss shoves Peeta into an urn, which shatters and his hands are cut.  Brief mention of cannibilism in previous games, eating someone’s heart after they were killed.  When the games begin, Katniss grapples for a backpack.  The boy coughs and splatters her face with blood.  She then sees the knife in his back.  A girl runs towards Katniss clutching half a dozen knives, the blade lodges in Katniss’ backpack as she flees.  A pack, the strong, band together to hunt down the weak, then when the tension becomes too great, they being to turn on one another.  The Gamemaker’s set the woods on fire to flush the tributes out of hiding and force them to fight.  The Gamemaker’s shoot fireballs at Katniss, to make the game more interesting to watch.  A fireball skids across Katniss’ left calf, severely burning her.  Katniss cuts down a deadly hive of Tracker Jackets.  The hive falls on her opponents.  At ribute die.  Cato catches an opponent in a headlock and breaks his neck.  Rue is speared to death.  Katniss immediately avenges Rue’s death, with an arrow to the young boys neck.  Cato slices Peeta’s leg to the bone.  Thresh kills Clove with a rock in the temple of her head.  The dead tributes have been altered into “Muttations”, huge wolves, who are let loose on Katniss, Cato and Peeta.  The mutts attack Cato, who is wearing body armor.   The mutts mangle Cato’s flesh all night long, through the body armor.  In the morning, he is a pulpy fleshy mass who mouths “please” to Katniss.  Katniss performs a mercy killing by shooting him in the mouth with an arrow.  Katniss and Peeta contemplate suicide as the rules of the Hunger Games are changed and they are faced with killing one another.

Sexual Content:  Gale hugs Katniss godbye and she is more aware of his body than ever before.  Jabberjays mate with female mockingbirds.  Katniss’ entire body in waxed and cleansed.  Katniss stands completely nude as the three stylists circle her, wielding tweezers to remove any last bits of hair.  Cinna the head stylist walks around Katniss’ naked body, not touching, but taking in every inch of it with his eyes.  One year, District 12 tributes were stark naked and covered in black powder to represent coal dust.  Katniss does not want to be nude on tv.  Katniss kisses Peeta.  Katniss and Peeta kiss again, and Katniss feels stirring inside her chest and she wants more.  Peeta holds Katniss in his arms and they fall asleep for the night.

Adult Themes:  Katniss’ mother must have really loved her father to leave her home for the Seam (ghetto), to see her children turned to skin and bones.  Katniss is not a forgiving type.  Katniss threatens her mother not to check out of caring for Prim while she is gone competing in the Hunger Games.  Twelve year-old Prim needs a mother.  Katniss never wants to have kids, it is to difficult to fill their bellies.  Reaping:  System where the poor are more likely to be drawn as tributes.  You become eligible for reaping the day you turn twelve.  Your name is entered once, at thirteen twice, until in your final years of eligibility, your name goes into the pool seven times.    However, you can add your name more times in exchange for grain and oil to eat.  Starvation is not an uncommon fate in District 12.  The victims of starvation die in the street.  The Peacekeepers retrieve the bodies, and starvation is never the official cause of death.   The only victor in District 12’s history is Haymitch, who is currently a sloppy drunk. 

Synopsis

“Panem is a country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America.  There were brutal wars for what little sustenance remained.  Panem, a shining Capitol ringed by thirteen districts, brought peace and prosperity to its citizens.  Then came the Dark Days, the uprising of the districts against the Capitol.  Twelve districts were defeated,  and the thirteenth obliterated.  The Treaty of Treason gave new laws to guarantee peace and, as a yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it gave us the Hunger Games.  The rules of the Hunger Games are simple.  In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate.  The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland.  Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death.  The last tribute standing wins.  Forcing the districts to watch them to kill one another – this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy.  How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion.  The real message is clear.  Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do.  If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you.  Just as we did District Thirteen.  To make it humiliating as well as toturous, the Capitol requires us to treat the Hunger Games as a festivity, a sporting event pitting every district against the others.  The last tribute alive receives a life of ease back home, and their district will be showered with prizes, largely consisting of food.  All year, the Capitol will show the winning district gifts of grain and oil and even delicacies like sugar while the rest of us battle starvation.  Tribute is synonymous with corpse.”  These are the words of our heroine, Katniss.

Katniss’ twelve year old sister, Primrose’s name is drawn as a tribute.  Katniss volunteers to take her young sister’s place.  Katniss took over as the head of her family at age eleven when her father died and her mother became severely depressed and could not care for her daughters.  They were slowly starving to death.  Katniss learned to hunt to sustain her mother and sister.  Katniss is a strong young woman who grapples with anger towards the capitol, and her mother’s abandonment as she fends for her family.  Katniss willingly fights in Prim’s place.  Katniss cautiously navigates her survival throughout the games as she weighs friend and foe.

Admittedly, I was captivated by “The Hunger Games”.  Unfortunately, the level of violence is extraordinarily high and extremely graphic.  Although written at a 5th – 6th grade level, I cannot recommend this book for young readers.  Mature readers ought to proceed with caution.  

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes:2

Title: Just Ella

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  A maid servant is beaten within an inch of her life for oversleeping.  The prince kills a sentenced man in front of Ella, in an attempt to show his power and win her affections.  As Ella approaches the refugee camp, “screams of anguish and terror” come from the battle grounds.

Sexual Content:  Ella describes the power of persuasion through pillow talk “when coupled with a kiss and a breathing whisper and the rest of what men and women do in bed.” Ella says her father was blinded to her step-mother’s faults because of his “desire to touch her skin, caress her body, join his to hers.”  There is mention of different privileges for married women than for virgins.  Ella is threatened to comply to marry the prince or be “taken care of” by a sentenced rapist.

Adult Themes:  Ella’s religious teacher suffers a stroke or heart attack during a lesson and nearly dies.  He “fouls himself”  after passing out.  Religion is talked of as a formality. Brief comments on the sufferings of war.  Citizens living on the country’s borders loose their homes and farms to the destruction of war.   Ella is imprisoned to weaken her will  and force her compliance in marrying Prince Charming.  She is fed occasionally, only a bowl of thin gruel with weevils.

Synopsis

A twist on a popular fairy tale whisks Ella off her feet to live in the Charming castle after winning the prince’s affections (without magic) at a ball.  As she prepares for her upcoming wedding, Princess Cynthiana Eleanora, as she is now called,  is surrounded by tutors and advisers that teach her the proper way to think and behave.  Ella quickly becomes uncomfortable with this restrictive, royal life and longs to have some freedom.   After suffering ill health, Ella’s religious teacher is replaced by his son Jed.  Ella finds Jed refreshingly honest and real and decides to confide some of her feelings to him.  He in return tells Ella that his greatest desire is to create refugee camps for those left homeless from their country’s war.  As her wedding day quickly approaches, Ella realizes that she does not love the prince and decides to break off their engagement.  The prince doesn’t take this well and Ella is thrown into prison until she agrees to the marriage.  Meanwhile, Jed is finally given permission to start his refugee camp when palace advisers suspect a relationship forming between him and the princess.  After days of torment and starvation, Ella escapes the dungeon by digging her way out.  She discovers that Jed is at the battle front and decides her best bet at living a free life is to study up on her agricultural and medical skills,  making herself a valuable asset that the refugee camp cannot refuse.  Days of travel bring her to the country’s border where she finds Jed.  He immediately professes his love to Ella, but she is unsure that this is really what she wants.  After agreeing to work at the camp for a while, Ella eventually discovers that Jed is her one and only true love.

What girl doesn’t dream about living happily ever after.  The author gave this fairy tale a creative spin by using self initiative instead of magic to decide the heroine’s fate.  I did find Ella hard to connect with.  I never felt really drawn into her plight.  I think the author focused too much on the power of feminism rather than developing believable characters.  I also thought that some of the sexual content was too mature for some young readers that might be attracted to a fairy tale story.

2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content:1

Adult Themes: 1

Title:  Stargirl

 Author:  Jerry Spinelli

Ratings Explanation

Language: One use of the name of deity. Some name calling and belittling. One girl, Hillary, says that Stargirl’s parents are witches or brain-dead vegetables in a hospital. She also belittles Stargirl in front of a group of other students, calling her goofy, crazy and tells her to go back where she came from.

Violence: Hillary holds Stargirls rat from a high balcony and threatens to drop it. She also slaps Star Girls face in an attempt provoke her to fight back. A tomato is thrown at Star Girl from fans at a basketball game when she continues to cheer for the opposing team.

Sexual Content: Leo describes the miracle of summer when someone “leaves in June looking like a little girl and returns in September as a full-bodied woman”. Leo and Stargirl’s first kiss is described as follows: “the last remaining space between our lips was gone… that was no saint kissing me.”

Adult Themes: The whole story revolves around social ethics dealing with individuality versus conformity. The characters must decide which is most important and to what extent they are willing to defend their position.

Synopsis

When a mysterious young girl moves to Mica, Arizona, she turns the local high school upside down. Stargirl, as she calls herself, “laughed when there was no joke. She danced when there was no music. She had no friends, yet she was the friendliest person in school”. Leo, a fellow student, is fascinated with Stargirl but never expects to actually like her. This relationship forces Leo to take a good look at himself and his relationship to others. Stargirl teaches him about true humanity and the importance of the individual, while bringing unity to their small community.

Spinelli did a great job in helping the reader rethink the importance of the individual. While reading, I experienced many of the same soul-searching questions that Leo had. In the end, I was left feeling a greater desire to look out for my neighbors and not be so quick to judge others. A great book to read and discuss with pre-teens and older.

  ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 4

Violence: 3

Sexual Content:1

Adult Themes: 3

Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Ratings Explanation

Language: There is considerable swearing and profanity (over 100 instances combined), both in German and English. Most is translated, some is not.  “Slut” and “whore” used several times. Several derogatory names used for Jews, “swine”, “rat”, “filth”.

Violence:  A handful of school yard and street fights, involving both Liesel and Rudy, including hitting, kicking, kneeing in ribs, and cutting off a boy’s hair with a knife. Liesel’s step mother beats her with a wooden spoon until she is laying on the floor. Her school teacher also gives her a licking with a stick. While a group of Jews is paraded down the street as they march to Dachau, Hans gives an old man a piece of bread. A German soldier whips both of them. During another parade Liesel sees a Jewish friend and goes to him, they are also whipped. Many cities are bombed and thousands die. A plane crashes near a town and the people find the dying pilot in his downed plane. Gas chambers and extermination camps referenced, but not described.

Sexual Content: Rudy repeatedly asks Liesel for a kiss, but she always refuses. Rudy tells Liesel he had to strip down completely naked for a physical exam. In her mind’s eye she pictures his glowing naked body.

 Adult Themes:  Liesel’s father is a communist in Nazi Germany and disappears. Her mother is unable to feed and care for her children so she takes Liesel and her brother to a foster home, but on the train ride to Munich Liesel’s brother dies. Liesel deals with abandonment and grief for her lost family. The extreme conditions in which the average German lived during the war. During the course of the book, Liesel steals several books and she and Rudy steal apples, potatoes and a basket of food meant for the priests. They have had so many things taken from them in the course of the war (family, food, security, childhood), that stealing something back for themselves becomes a triumph.  Brief description of “Kristallnacht” when Jewish businesses are vandalized. Treatment of Jews as non-humans. Liesel’s foster parents hide a Jew in their basement, the punishment for which is death. At a certain point in the story he has to leave their home, but has nowhere to go so they are very worried about what will become of him. The aftermath of bombed cities, people searching for missing loved ones, complete destruction of neighborhoods and the people in them.

Synopsis

At nine years of age, Liesel Meminger has buried her little brother, bid her mother goodbye, moved in with a foster family and stolen her first book. There will be more books to steal and more loved ones to bury, but first Liesel’s story must be told. With Death as the narrator, The Book Thief follows Liesel through the war years on Himmel  Street in Molching, Germany where she learns to read, steal, love and write.

Zusak is a masterful writer, his descriptions capture the everyday in an unusual way. He describes passengers sliding out from a train “as if from a torn package” only to find their same old problems “waiting at the end of the trip – the relative you cringe to kiss.”

The book’s characters are unforgettable. I was in awe of Liesel and the strength she posessed.  I fell in love with Rudy and the man he could have become. Max, the Jew in hiding, gives Liesel the great gift of words and boxes Hitler in the basement. Death even endeared himself to me with his quirky humor, his wondering whether anyone was ever injured while standing too close to someone heil Hitlering, and his ironic fear of humans. Rosa, the foul-mouthed step-mother who honestly loved the girl she berated, and Hans, the sweet step-father with the silver eyes. Zusak creates a set of characters never to be forgotten.

While this is a wonderful book, there is considerable content to digest. I would recommend this book for a mature teen, late high school or older.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language:4

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Persian Pickle Club

Author: Sandra Dallas

Rating Explanation

Language: A moderate amount of swearing and profanity as well as 5 racial slurs and one F-word.

Violence: A man knocks Rita to the ground, hits Queenie twice and tries to force her to go with him. He grabs her breast, rips her dress and touches her body.  A neighbor comes along, hits the man in the face and breaks his nose. He kicks him in the groin and in the back. (This scene and the F-word occur on pages 127-135, in case you would like to skip them)

Adult Themes: A difficult marital situation, overbearing husband

Synopsis

The Persian Pickle Club weaves together the lives, stories, and secrets of 12 women in a quilting circle in Depression-era Kansas. Rita, the newest Pickle member, wants to become a reporter and is determined to get her big break by solving the murder of a member’s husband. Her sleuthing unearths both secrets and loyalty.

I truly enjoyed this story of friendship and loyalty between women. We all have some sort of support system that keeps us going when difficulties arise. When a friend needed help the Pickles brought food, built cook fires, and fed the chickens; today we might go to lunch, drive a friend’s carpool or pick up her groceries. No matter the time period, women help each other and the gift is the same.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 5

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 4

Title: The Life of Pi

Author: Yann Martel

Ratings Explanation

Language: Mild profanity and uses of the name of deity.

Violence: There are descriptions of abuse from uncaring visitors towards animals living in zoos that leads to their illness or death. Pi’s father forces his two sons to witness a tiger attacking and eating a live goat to teach them the danger of the animals in the zoo. Several instances of animal kingdom violence and gore are mentioned as animals kill each other for protection or food. On three occasions, an animal kills a human being to protect their territory. Because of the survival theme the author describes the slaughtering of sea animals for their salt-free blood to drink and meat to eat. Cannibalism is also used as a source of food. At the end of the book a story is told of a demented ship’s chef. Pi tells the following story to two navel officers from Japan who will not believe his original story of survival. The chef amputates the infected broken leg of a life boat passenger. The amputees does not live long after this. The cook butchers the body for food (scalping the head and face, using the intestines and genitals). The cook later fights with Pi’s mother stabbing her to death and throwing her body overboard. A few days later Pi stabs the cook to death in anger, pulls out the heart and eats it.

Sexual Content: Abuse is mentioned to have happened to zoo animals by sexual deviant visitors. The author explains that certain animal sounds indicate the animals desire to mate. A religious man criticizes circumcision by describing it as “having the end of your pecker cut off.” A shape in a religious painting is described as a “phallic stump“. Pi observes the genitals of a rat as it soars through the air.

Adult Themes: When Pi’s ship sinks, he loses his parents and brother and grieves heavily for them. Pi explores the main religions in his area and speaks to religious leaders who explain their beliefs but also demean the beliefs of others. There is also a graphic description of the crucifixion of Christ. Pi uses a damp rag to induce asphyxiation to help pass the time during the dreadfully long days. Pi becomes desperate enough to drink urine and eat feces. Pi faces the tough ethical decision of eating the flesh of a dead man because of his extreme hunger. Pi experiences excruciating suffering as part of daily survival.

Synopsis

Sixteen year old Piscine (Pi) Patel has enjoyed a unique childhood growing up in India as a zookeeper’s son. He learns much from the animals surrounding him, as well as the divers religions that draw him in and pull at his soul. As the political scene in India changes, Pi’s family decides to sell the zoo and relocate to Canada along with some of the zoo animals. Unfortunately their ship sinks in the middle of the Pacific Ocean leaving Pi the soul human survivor along with a 450-pound Bengal Tiger as his companion. As hours turn into days and weeks, a rescue does not seem likely and Pi must learn to survive the elements and live peacefully with the tiger on a twenty foot long lifeboat.

Yann Martel’s talented use of the English language brings the reader directly into the story with words which awaken all of the senses. This also means the reader suffers the excruciating experience of survival on the sea including extreme fear, hunger, thirst , mind numbing boredom and difficult ethical decisions. There are several pages I found difficult to stomach because of this. After agonizing along with Pi page after page, I was exhausted and disappointed with the ending. Definitely a book for the strong stomached older reader. I recommend high school age or older.

Language: 0

Violence: 4

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 3

Title:  The Host

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Melanie is attacked by a man in the dark and held at knife point.  On Fire World, Fire Tasters burned Walking Flowers alive and ingested the smoke as their nourishment.  Eight humans surround Wanderer/Melanie “slavering for blood.”  Jared backhands Wanderer/Melanie with force enough to slam her into the rock floor.  Ian wraps his hands around Wanderer/Melanie’s throat in an attempt to strangle her.  Jared, Ian and Kyle take turns beating one another repeatedly throughout the book.  Doc kidnaps souls “…and mutilated, dismembered, tortured bodies, ripped into grotesque shreds.”… to learn more about them.  Jamie breaks Jared’s nose.  Melanie/Wanderer punches Jared after he kisses her.  Kyle attempts to kill Melanie/Wanderer and she ultimately saves his life.  Wes is killed by a Seeker.  At Wanderer/Melanie’s request, Jared hits Wanderer in the face with a rock and scrapes a few layers of skin off.

Sexual Content:  Sensuously described passionate kissing between Melanie, a 17 year old female and Jared, a 26 year old male.  Sensuous kissing and groping between Jared and Wanderer/Melanie and Wanderer/Melanie and Ian.  Ian implies that Wanderer ought to experience sex while she is living a human life.  Homosexual reference, one man to another, “But if you try cuddling up to me tonight…so help me, O’Shea.” 

Adult Themes:  Melanie attempts suicide by jumping down an elevator shaft.  She does not die, but is severely injured.  Wanderer/Melanie nearly dies of dehydration and starvation in the desert.  Euthenasia: Walter, a human suffering from cancer is given a morphine overdose and dies.  Wanda decides to sacrifice herself so Melanie can have her body back.

Synopsis

Wanderer, an invading “soul” with seven past lives, has been given Melanie Stryder’s body.  A human body – the host body.  The unseen souls (aliens) have been invading human bodies in a covert war with the human race.  A soul is a small silver centipede being that is inserted at the base of a human neck, where it connects its many legs to the human host’s brain and body, thereby controlling the host body and ultimately causing the human within to disappear.

Wanderer finds her host, Melanie, does not disappear.  Wanderer infiltrates Melanie’s memories in search of the whereabouts of the human resistance.  Melanie exposes Wanderer to her memories of human love and desire.  Wanderer finds that she also yearns to be with this man she has never known.  Melanie and Wanderer unite in a dangerous journey to find Jared and Melanie’s younger brother, Jamie as they traverse the unforgiving desert of the Southwest.  Wanderer is conflicted as she is forced to choose between the human race and her native race.  

The Literate Mother received a specific request that this book be read and reviewed.  I had to slog my way through the first 130 pages.  The author spent too much time describing the setting of the story and then finally the story began.  This book is Meyer’s first foray into writing expressly for adults.  This novel may be popular with science fiction fans.  “The Host” ultimately questions,  “What is our definition of a relationship?”  After the unhealthy relationships exhibited in The Twilight Series, this would seem to be a natural course for Meyer’s to explore.  As an Arizona Resident, I enjoyed the descriptions of the Sonoran Desert and Picacho Peak.  This book would be appropriate for a high school aged reader, if they were captivated by the story.  I was not.

Language: 0

Violence: 4

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 3

Title: The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story

Author: Diane Ackerman

Ratings Explanation

Violence: This is a war story, so there are many images of war. I was relieved, however, that the violence is portrayed quite matter-of-factly, no gore and not too many details. As German planes bomb Warsaw, the Zookeeper’s wife, Antonina, flees the city. The planes fly low and shoot at the people trying to escape. The scene of the dead and dying is etched into her memory. Soldiers shoot many of the more dangerous zoo animals before they can escape the enclosures. She describes a city under siege with bombs dropping, fear, hunger and death. The zoo is bombed, some of the remaining animals are killed. Nazi policy of death for any Pole who resisted or helped hide Jews. SS officers shoot remaining zoo animals for sport. Explanation of laws concerning Jews and the humiliations and beatings to which they were publicly subjected. A German soldier guarding the wall around the  ghetto enjoys shooting Jewish children trying to escape. Jews from the ghetto, including 192 children from an orphanage and their priest, are loaded on trains and shipped to death camps (no description of the camps). Near the end of the war, the Jews left in the ghetto launch an uprising and fight the Nazis for sixty-three days – shooting, killing and burning.

Sexual Content: It is mentioned that women are raped, no descriptions.

Adult Themes: War. The Nazi’s “Jewish Solution”.  The lost childhood of Rys, Antonina’s son, who basically grew up during the war. The unspeakable things that humans are capable of. How much are you willing to risk in order to help someone else?

Synopsis

 Jan Zabinski and his wife Antonina are Polish zookeepers who shelter over 300 Jews in their home and zoo enclosures over the course of WWII. Brave and resourceful, Jan works with the Home Army to sabotage the Nazis and smuggle food and supplies into the Jewish ghetto as Antonina keeps their villa running while hiding several guests at a time both inside the house and outside in zoo buildings. The author, Diane Ackerman, also weaves in many other stories of those willing to risk all to save a few.

Ackerman paints a vivid physical picture of Poland with many descriptions of its natural beauties and resources. She also shares harrowing stories of survival and sacrifice that many Poles endured. While portraying the atrocities of war and the plight of the Jews, she retells a hopeful and uplifting story about all of the people who saw the need to help and acted upon it.

I loved this book and recommend it to all of you reading this post. Although it is not specifically written for youth, in my opinion it is appropriate for high school age readers. I asked myself all through the book, “Would I be willing to do that? Would I be willing to put my own family at risk in order to help others?” It is truly amazing to read about these real life heroes, but Jan and Antonina did not see themselves as heroic. As Jan said, “I only did my duty — if you can save somebody’s life, it’s your duty to try.” 

 Language:1

Violence: 5

Sexuality: 4

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Eclipse – Twilight Series, Book 3

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Ratings Explanation

Language: Bella writes a note to Edward – “Screw the protecting me crap.”  She also demands, “What the hell is this all about?”

Violence:   A clash between the werewolves and the Cullen Coven as they try to capture Victoria who treads along the boundary between the Quileute Reservation and the Town of Forks.  Rosalie refers to Bella’s experience in Twilight, where Bella was cornered by four men that were planning to rape her, had Edward not rescued her.  Rosalie recounts her last human experience.  She was violently raped by her wealthy fiance’ and his cluster of friends.  One friend ”…looked me over like I was a horse he was buying.”  The five men raped Rosalie and left her in the street for dead.  Rosalie was rescued by Carlisle and transformed into a vampire.  Rosalie systematically killed all who had raped her.  Jacob’s hand gets sliced by a boning knife while doing dishes with Bella.  Vampires break into Bella’s home and steal belongings that have her scent on them.  The Newborn Vampire Army creates havoc in Seattle with hundreds of unexplained deaths.  Jasper recounts gruesome vampire wars in Mexico.  Bella attends a tribal council with Jacob, where the History of the Quileutes is recounted.  The history includes the vampire’s slaughter of their tribe.  The suicide sacrifice of Taha Aki’s wife, as well as the tribe’s metamorphisis into werewolf protectors.  Jacob physically forces himself upon Bella, kissing her.  Bella breaks her hand punching him in the jaw.  Victoria and Riley, evil vampires, fight Edward and Seth the Werewolf.  The werewolf rips Riley the vampire to pieces and dismembers his body.  Edward kills Victoria.  The Cullen Coven defeat the Newborn Vampire Army.   The Cullen Coven collect the pieces of the dismembered corpses of the vampires and burn them.  A Newborn Vampire girl survives the battle.  She cannot control her thirst.  The Volturi arrive and dispose of the girl.  

Sexuality:  Meyer’s describes the most innocent of kisses in a very slow, sensuous manner.  Charlie, Bella’s father asks her if they are having  sex.  Bella is mortified.  She has never been immoral.  Jacob Black and Edward are described in vivid detail.  ie.) “..six foot seven inches of Jacob’s long body, muscled up the way no normal sixteen-and-a-half-year -old ever had been.  I saw those eyes rake over his tight black t-shirt….”  Werewolves are imprinted to their mate.  They instantly know who their soul mate is when they see them.  Quil imprints when he sees a two year old girl.  (He will be her friend, until she is older and comes to the realization that they are mates.)  Edward tells Bella, “You look…sexy.” Edward lifts her onto a counter to kiss him.   Bella does not want to give up the human experience of sex.  She begins to take her clothes off the seduce Edward.  Edward tells Bella he will not have sex with her until they are married.  She gives him a hard time about protecting his virtue.  He will not back down.  He is protecting her virtue as well.  Bella freezes in a snowstorm.  Jacob has to be the one to warm her up, since werewolves are hot-blooded.  Edward is upset, but sees that he has to allow Jacob to climb in Bella’s sleeping bag to warm her up.  Jacob suggests Bella take her clothes off and she would warm up really fast.  Edward tells Jacob to control his thoughts.  (Edward can read other’s thoughts.)  Jacob and Bella share an intense first kiss. 

Adult Themes:  Bella lies to her father about where she is going so that she can spend the weekend with Edward.  Bella loves both Jacob and Edward.  She can envision her life with each of them.  She has to make a decision and live with the consequences. 

Synopsis

Bella and Edward are back to together again.  Bella laments the passing of time.  Each day is a day she will be older than her non-aging vampire boyfriend, Edward, who was transformed into a vampire, when he was just seventeen.  The last few months of high school rapidly pass as Bella anxiously awaits and woefully dreads graduation.  Bella’s human days are numbered.  She tries to live her final human experiences to the fullest.  Bella has decided that after graduation she will become a vampire; and she desires Edward to be the one to make her immortal.  Edward agrees, if and only if they are married first.  Bella ponders the consequences of her impending decision to become a vampire.  Most poignantly, the impact upon family and friends.  She is fearful of what she may become.

Bella discovers that she is torn between her love for Edward and surprisingly, her unrequited love for her best friend, Jacob.  She wishes she could be divided in two and live both lives.

Meanwhile, Victoria seeks revenge.   She has created an army of “Newborn Vampires”, who are ravaging the city of Seattle.  (Victoria was James, “ The Tracker’s” mate, from the first book, Twilight.  In Twilight, the Cullen Coven dismembered and burned James – the only way to kill a vampire; to save Bella’s life.)  The werewolves and the Cullen Coven unite to fend off the “Newborn Vampire” Army.  Edward and Jacob personally unite to protect Bella.  The Volturi, from book two, New Moon, also make a chilling appearance after the vicious battle is fought.

Meyer’s talent lies in capturing the intense emotions you experience in a first crush/first kiss/first love.  The soap opera quality of the Twilight Series hooks young and younger readers alike, as you consume the drivel to see ”What will happen next?”.   In book three, Bella is finally developing into a more mature character.  She thinks about the ramifications of her impending “immortal” decision.  What will be most identifiable to young readers will be Bella’s torn heart, between her “True Love”, Edward and her “Best Friend”, Jacob.  Bella will always wonder what her life would have been like had she chosen the other. 

Bella Swann, as a role-model to young women is extremely discouraging.  Bella has redeeming character traits.  Bella is a responsible teenager, who competently handles the running of a household.  She grocery shops, prepares meals, and does her laundry, in addition to being an A+ student.  Bella also expresses maturity in relationships with her peers. 

Although, Bella’s relationship with Edward is unhealthy.  Bella has low self-esteem.  (Most teenage girls will identify easily with this.)  Bella is extremely self-deprecating, and she frequently describes Edward as perfect.  She juxtaposes her woeful inadequecies next to his perfection in her thoughts and voice.  Bella constantly diminishes her self-worth and her frequent self- descriptive words are “ordinary” and “regular”. 

The underlying message is, “Bella is of exceptional value, as long as someone of the opposite sex loves her.”  Edward is perfection.  Bella reminds us of his perfection and how lucky she is to have him.  Never does she acknowledge that she deserves to have someone attractive love her.  All of Edward’s controlling behaviors are deemed acceptable, and forgiven, on the premise that he loves her.

Eclipse would definitely be a great book to open discussion regarding self-worth, as well as the importance of virtue in relationships.  Eclipse is more appropriate for high school age readers.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence:  3

Sexuality: 2

Adult Themes: 2

Title: New Moon

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Series: The Twilight Saga, Book 2

 Ratings Explanation

 Language: 7 instances of “hell” and 6 instances of “damn”.

 Violence: While at the Cullen’s home, Bella cuts her arm and is nearly attacked by Jasper. Edward defends her. Bella encounters Laurent in the forest, a vampire who would very  much like to kill Bella since she smells so good and the Cullens are not around to protect her. Werewolves patrol the forest, save Bella and kill Laurent. Victoria, the vampire mate of James, who Edward killed in Twilight, is stalking Bella. She wants to kill Edward’s mate since Edward killed her mate. Hikers disappear; killed by either Laurent or Victoria. Bella engages in self-destructive behavior in order to hear Edward’s voice in her head. She discovers that when she is in danger, he “speaks” to  her, although he is nowhere near. Bella then tries out motorcycle riding, ending in injuries, and cliff diving, nearly resulting in her drowning. After her near drowning, Edward thinks that Bella is dead and goes to Italy to ask the Volturi to kill him. While in Italy to save Edward, Bella witnesses a roomful of 40 or more tourists who are brought into the Volturi’s lair on a “sightseeing” tour. That, of course, ends poorly for the tourists who become dinner for the Volturi clan. Bella is especially affected by a small, dark woman with a rosary and a cross. As Bella, Edward, and Alice escape, they hear the tourists screaming.

 Sexuality: Edward is actually absent for most of the book, so there isn’t too much kissing, but some of it is a little intense. “…his lips became much more urgent, his free hand twisted into my hair and held my face securely to his. And, though my hands tangled in his hair, too, and though I was clearly beginning to cross his cautious lines, for once he didn’t stop me. His body was cold through the thin quilt, but I crushed myself against him eagerly. “After Edward returns, as in the first book, he stays in Bella’s bed with her most nights. In another scene, “I could feel his marble body against every line of mine.”

 Adult Themes: Bella is so distraught when Edward leaves that she can barely hold herself together. She abandons her other friends and just barely functions. Charley wants her to see a therapist, but she refuses. Jacob loves Bella, but to her he is only a best friend. She knows she is leading him on, but can’t stay away from him because he fills the void left by Edward. Alice steals two cars while in Italy. Bella deceives her father by having Edward in her room at night.

 Synopsis

In the second installment of the Twilight Saga, Bella and Edward are very much in love. An unfortunate accident in which Bella is nearly attacked by Edward’s “brother” Jasper, emphasizes the differences between them and the potential danger Bella is exposed to when she is around his vampire family. In an effort to protect her, Edward leaves Forks and abandons Bella. Alone and seriously depressed, Bella begins hanging out with Jacob, an old family friend. With Jacob’s help, Bella begins to heal from losing Edward, but Jacob has a dark secret of his own. When Edward  believes that Bella is dead, he goes to Italy to ask the Volturi to kill him. Only seeing Bella in the flesh will convince him that she is still alive, but the Volturi do not take kindly to humans who know their secret. Can they escape Italy alive and together?

With Edward gone, Bella is a mess. I worry a little that young girls will think that this is how you are supposed to feel, and act, when your boyfriend breaks up with you.

The story is a page turner. Of the four books, this one is probably the least sensual since Edward is gone for the majority of the book. Still, not a series for young girls. My recommended age is high school.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 4

Sexuality: 3

Adult Themes: 3

Title:  Twilight

Author:  Stephenie Meyer

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Ratings Explanation

Language: References to rapidly uttered profanities spoken by the vampires – unintelligible to the human ear.  Bella claims Forks is her personal hell.

Violence:  The preface foreshadows Bella’s hopelessness as the hunter saunters toward her to kill her.  A van hits ice in the school parking lot and slides toward her.  If not for Edward’s stealth, she would have been crushed.  Blood typing in science class.  Every student has to prick their finger with a lancet.  Bella has a nightmare of Jacob the Werewolf and Edward the Vampire squaring off to fight.  Bella researches vampires and discovers the Romanian Varacolaci, a powerful undead human being who could appear as a beautiful, pale-skinned human, the Slovak Nelapsi, a creature so strong and fast it could massacre an entire village in the single hour after midnight.  Bella takes a girl’s shopping trip to Port Angeles.  She leaves their company in search of a book store.  Bella is herded and surrounded by four raucous men in a deserted industrial area.  Bella is terrified and knows there is no escape.  Fortunately, she is saved by Edward.  Although, thanks to Edward’s mind-reading capabilities, it is obvious that Bella would have been a victim of rape.  Edward confirms that he is indeed a vampire.  He warns Bella not to go into the woods alone.  There are things far more dangerous than him out there.  Edward describes how vampires hunt their prey.  “….we give ourselves over to our senses….govern less with our minds.  Especially our sense of smell.”  Edward tells Bella that he could have easily killed her when they first met.  “There was only one other frail human there – so easily dealt with.”  Edward also recounts how he was turned into a vampire.  He recounts the grisly description of Carlisle’s transformation from human to vampire.  Violence recounted from the 1600’s - the deaths of many innocent people.  Carlisle attacks a deer and his thirst is quenched, he vows to drink the blood of animals and not humans.  James the tracker desires Bella’s blood.  Alice describes how to become a vampire to Bella.  The bite, the incapacitating venom, and the blood-lust that ensue.  James attacks Bella.  Bella receives a crushing blow to the chest, her head crunches into the mirrors.  James steps on her leg, snapping the bone.  The glass from the mirrors, rips her scalp open and the blood soaks her.  James bites her hand and the venom begins to spread.  James is destroyed, meaning, torn into pieces by the Cullen Coven of vampires and burned.

Sexuality:  Twilight is a very sensual book.  Every interaction between Bella and Edward is amplified and described in a slow, sensuous manner.  Edward is described in repetitive detail, denoting his beautifully chiseled marble face etc.  ie) “Again, the fabric clung to his perfectly muscled chest.  It was a tribute to his face that it kept my eyes away from his body.”  Edward watches Bella sleep each night.  Eventually, he sleeps holding her in his arms in her bed.  As Edward is in her room, Bella notes that her father is in the house.  Bella watches as a waitress coyly suggests to Edward “Isn’t there anything I can get you?”   Intense first kiss, with Bella’s human reaction lacking in self-control as she wraps herself around Edward.  Bella curiously asks if vampires can have sex.

Adult Themes: Vampires – The Cold Ones, Blood Drinkers.  Bella deals with the complications of divorced parents.  Bella’s mother lives with her boyfriend, Phil.  Bella deliberately and unnecessarily takes cold medicine to knock herself out – gratuitous drug use.

Synopsis

Isabella Swan is seventeen years old.  “Bella’s” parents are divorced.  Mid-school year, Bella chooses to move to Forks, Washington, where her father resides.  Bella’s father, Charlie, is a single father, who is also the Chief of Police.  Bella leads her mother to believe that she really wants to move to Forks, when she would rather stay in Phoenix.  However, Bella believes her mother will be happier traveling with her boyfriend, Phil, to Florida for Baseball Spring Training.  Phil is an amatuer baseball player, working toward his big break.  Bella sacrifices her comfort for her mother’s happiness.

Bella arrives in Forks with little enthusiasm for her new life.  She quickly begins to realize life in Forks will be anything but dismal.  Her father purchases a “historic truck” for her to drive – forty years new.  Bella is showered with male attention as the “new girl” at Forks High School.  She finds that her pale complexion is an asset in Forks, Washington.  Bella is unaccustomed to so much male attention.  She is mutually humored and stunned by the attempts for her attentions.

Bella experiences her “First Crush/First Love”, with Edward Cullen.  She experiences her first kiss, as well as the intense longings and desires that accompany first love.  Bella discovers that Edward is not just another high school student.  Edward and his “siblings”, are a coven of vampires, who pose as high school students in their quest for co-existence with humans.  They drink the blood of animals instead of humans in order to stave off their thirst for human blood.  Bella is cautiously introduced into Edward’s World  - A World of Vampires.  As Bella participates in a Cullen Family game of baseball, another coven of vampires happens upon the Cullens.  Bella, as the only human, has her life threatened.  James, the leader of the opposing coven is a “tracker”, a hunter, with an insatiable desire for Bella’s blood.  An intense game of ”Hunter and Prey” ensues as the Cullen’s conspire to keep Bella alive and out of James’ grasp.

I first read this book two years ago when a few twelve and thirteen year old girls in my neighborhood told me “I just had to read Twilight”.  I admit, I was intrigued by the plot.  I had to find out how a vampire/human relationship could ever work out.  Meyer’s writing style leaves much to be desired.  Her descriptions are repetitive and unimaginative.  The strength of Meyer’s lies is her ability to capture the intense emotions that a person experiences in their “First Crush/First Kiss/First Love”.  The love story of Bella and Edward is the intense draw for so many young women.  The unattainable uber-attractive male who is just as enamored with the average female as she is with him is a universal desire.  This resounds with every female.  As I re-read Twilight this month, I have been quite surprised to recently see so many 4th and 5th grade readers devouring the Twilight Series.  The Twilight Series is more appropriate for a 9th-12th grade “young adult” reader.  Twilight lends itself to discussing many issues with your young reader: personal safety, drug abuse, theft, honesty, defining self-worth, boundaries in relationships and early sexuality.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 5

Sexuality: 3 

Adult Themes: 4

Title:  House of the Scorpion

Author:  Nancy Farmer

National Honor Book/2003 Newbery Honor Book/Printz Honor Book

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Two of the words of profanity used throughout the book mean nothing to us, but are future words of profanity.  “Crotting” which means anything to do with “eejits”.  The other,”Eejits” are people, clones or animals who are injected with a drug that blunts their intelligence or have an implant in their brain.  They are not considered human.  They can do repetitive tasks, but cannot think for themselves.  ie.)If the eejits are not told to drink water, they will die of thirst.  There are minimal references to the Country of Opium as hell. 

Violence:  Matt as a six year old child breaks a glass window and climbs out.  Matt’s foot is sliced open.  He is taken to the Alacran Mansion, where he is gently cared for until they realize he is a clone.  Matt is then thrown out of the house onto the lawn and left for the day until he is discovered to be El Patron’s clone.  Matt is then locked up.  There is no bathroom.  He tries to urinate quietly and the bucket tips over.  Rosa threatens to kill Matt.  Rosa takes his clothes, the bathroom bucket and slowly starves Matt.  Rosa has sawdust thrown into the room – deep litter.  Matt throws an orange at Tom’s face.  Tom shoots Matt with a pea shooter.  Rosa is turned into an eejit when Matt is found malnourished with a skin condition.  Matt and the bodyguard, Tam Lin come upon a dead man lying in the field, a worker, who died of thirst.  The eejit is left in the field like a piece of trash.  Tom unsuccessfully tries to drown Maria’s dog, Furball.  Tom uses laudunum, which is opium dissolved in alcohol to kill Furball.  Furball’s death is blamed on Matt.  Tom takes Maria and Matt to the estate’s hospital where McGregor’s clone is strapped to a bed, writhing in pain.  His eyes and liver have been transplanted.  When the eejits die, they are turned into compost to fertilize the opium fields.  Felicia unleashes a venomous tirade to Tom how she wants to kill Matt.  Matt discovers the eejit pens, where they sleep in filth.  The eejits are exposed to carbon dioxide from the wastelands on still nights and are commanded to sleep in the fields, so they don’t die.  The army of bodyguards consists of wanted international criminals.  Tam Lin, El Patron’s personal bodyguard, was a Scottish Nationalist who accidentally blew up twenty kids on a school bus, instead of the Prime Minister and Prince Charlie in London.  Matt tries to escape when El Patron has a heart attack and needs a new heart.  Matt is tackled by a guard and strapped to a bed.  Matt is poisoned by Celia with foxglove and arsenic to make his heart too unstable to transplant – which saves his life.  Matt barely escapes the Farm Patrol into Aztlanos, formerly Mexico.  Fidelito recounts his parents being killed by the Farm Patrol’s stun guns.  The orphans are beaten for not producing enough each day.  They are fed plankton feed, which makes the boys sick and gives them skin conditions.  The Keepers are drug addicts and traffickers of laudunum.  Matt is beaten by a keeper and he and Chacho are thrown into the boneyard to die.  El Patron dies and determines that a toast to him be made at the wake with a special wine he has saved for the occasion.  The wine is poisoned and kills everyone but Tam Lin, Mr. Ortega, and Celia who decided not to toast the old man.  They are all buried with El Patron.  El Patron worshipped the Pharoahs of old, who were buried with their possessions. 

Sexuality:  Tom, a vicious boy, who torments Matt, is the son of a competing drug lord, MacGregor.  While Tom’s mother, Felicia, was married to El Patron’s great-grandson.  Felicia ran off with Macregor, only it didn’t work out because El Patron doesn’t like people taking his possessions.  El Patron had Felicia brought back to the Alacran Estate.  However, Felicia’s husband, Mr. Alacran, did not want Felicia back.  El Patron didn’t care.  Felicia was the Property of El Patron.  Rosa has a lover, Willum the Chief Doctor for the Alacran Household.  Maria, the young daughter of Senator Mendoza sneaks food to Matt and spends the night in the locked room. 

Adult Themes:  Human beings are cloned for transplants, or to be workers in the poppy fields. The minds of the clones are destroyed at birth.  The coyotes who smuggle Mexicans into the U.S. and vice versa lead the illegals straight to the Farm Patrol in the country of Opium, where they are injected and turned into eejits.  The eejits are essentially slaves to the Country of Opium.  The boys in Aztlanos are all orphans of parents who have been turned into eejits, while searching for a better life in the U.S. or Aztlanos.  The orphans are kept as slave workers by the Border Patrol in Aztlanos. 

Synopsis

One hundred years from now, Matteo Alacran’ will be harvested.  Matteo is a clone of El Patron, a powerful drug lord.  El Patron is the undisputed ruler of a new country called Opium, which lies on a narrow strip of land between what was once Mexico and the United States.  Matt’s first cells grew and divided in a petri dish.  The cells were then placed into the womb of a cow, where Matt grew from a fetus into a baby.  Matt is now like any other boy, except those in Opium do not consider him human.  He is considered a monster, an “eejit”.  Celia, a cook for El Patron, cares for Matt.  El Patron loves Matt, because Matt is El Patron.  In fact, Matt is the eighth El Patron clone to be born.  The other seven have been sacrificed for El Patron.  Their youthful organs transplanted into El Patron to enable him to live for nearly a century and a half. 

Matt struggles to understand his existence.  El Patron lavishes a privately tutored education upon Matt.  Matt’s perspective of the world changes as he sees the cruel reality of Opium.  Matt is continually threatened by the evil, power-hungry family, friends and army of bodyguards who surround El Patron and his amassed property.  They are all El Patron’s property.  Matt’s only chance of survival is to escape from the Alacran Estate in Opium.  His escape from Alacran is no guarantee of freedom.  Matt discovers his intense desire to live as he confronts adversity.

Ironically, the day I began reading this book, I was stung by a scorpion hiding in the sheets of my bed as I drifted off to sleep – one of the perils of living in a desert.  Farmer’s plot was innovative and intense.  This is one of the most powerful and thought-provoking books I have read.  The story is a coming-of-age story that weaves today’s ethical, scientific, political and socioeconomic issues into an amazing tapestry that becomes a powerful story of survival. 

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1 

Violence: 3 

Sexual Content: 0 

Adult Themes: 2  

Title: Frankenstein

Author: Mary Shelley

Rating Explanation

Language: Several instances of profanity

Violence: The creature commits 3 murders. An innocent woman is executed for a crime she did not commit. The creature is shot and wounded. While this sounds quite violent, there are no gory details or descriptions.

Adult Themes:  Victor Frankenstein creates a living being and immediately abandons him. Although he receives no affection or acceptance from Victor, the creature witnesses in others the goodness and sympathy humans are capable of. When he is shunned by these good people, the creature blames his creator and society for rejecting him and driving him to his crimes. The creature’s rage and vengeance lead him to murder and misery.  Is Victor responsible for his creation’s crimes because he neglected to instruct the creature on how to live in a civilized society? What responsibility does the creature have for his own actions?

Synopsis

 Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic tale follows Victor Frankenstein and his obsession to create life. Once this is achieved, Victor is disgusted by what he has created and abandons his creature. The creature longs for human affection and acceptance, but is shunned by all. Miserable and alone, he vows to ruin Victor’s life and make him as wretched as he  is.

One of my favorite things about this book is the language. Although telling a gruesome tale, the prose is beautiful. Here is one of my favorite passages. “Did you not call this a glorious expedition? and wherefore was it glorious? Not because the way was smooth and placid as a southern sea, but because it was full of dangers and terror; because, at every new incident, your fortitude was to be called forth and your courage exhibited; because danger and death surrounded, and these dangers you were to brave and overcome. For this was it a glorious, for this was it an honourable undertaking.”

What do I need to say about this classic? Read it. It is well worth your time.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 5 

Violence: 5 

Sexuality: 5 

Adult Themes: 5 

Title:  The Glass Castle – A Memoir

Author:  Jeannette Walls

Ratings Explanation

Language:  EVERY profane and vulgar word imaginable is used – most often spoken by Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father. 

Violence:  Jeannette and her brother, Brian are beat up by a group of Mexican girls while they are in elementary school in Arizona.   Billy Deel, a neighbor boy, breaks a window in their home with the butt of his BB Gun to confront Jeannette who denied his advances.  He fires his BB Gun and shoots at the children, who are home alone.  Lori, Jeannette’s older sister, grabs her father’s pistol and shoots at Billy.  Jeannette takes the pistol from Lori and continues to shoot at Billy- thankfully missing.   Arguments between an alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother are intense.  While drinking, Rex, the father pulls a knife on his wife.  He also hangs her out of a second story window.  In another intense argument, Rose Mary, her mother jumps out of a moving car and runs into the darkened desert.  Rex chases her down in the car, yelling vulgarities at her, he corners her with the car against rocks, and then drags Rose Mary back into the car.  When they move to Welch, Jeanette is then beat up daily by a group of girls while in fifth grade.  While in West Virginia neighborhood bullies throw a rock through their window pane.  One of Jeanette’s rare friends, Dinitia Hewitt, becomes pregnant.  A few months later Dinitia is arrested for stabbing her mother’s boyfriend to death. 

Sexuality:  Rex visits a prostitute, with Brian, his young son in tow.  Eight year old Jeannette is groped by Billy Deel who then brags that he raped her.  While Billy Deel’s father is asleep in a drunken stupor, Jeannette sees his penis hanging out of his pants.  Ten year old Jeannette is groped again, while sleeping in her home.  (Parents insist on sleeping with the doors open in the summertime - while living in an urban area.)  Uncle Stanley masturbates in front of Jeanette while trying to creep his hand down her leg.  Grandma Erma inappropriately touches Brian.  Rose Mary’s classic response, “Sexual assualt is a crime of perception.”

Adult Themes:  The father, Rex, is an alcoholic, and the mother, Rose Mary, is mentally ill.  No money, no food, neglected children – always doing “The Skeedaddle” when bills are due.  Bill collectors, “The Gestapo” are always looking for them.  Rex bristles at any person in authority.  While at the zoo, he rebuffs authority and pets a cheetah.  Pervasive parental negligence, young children are left to care for themselves, they are rarely fed or bathed.  Jeannette at the age of three is severely burned while cooking herself hot dogs for dinner.  She spends weeks in a burn unit.  Brian splits his head open – no medical care.  The children dumpster dive for food.  Rose Mary tells the children to cut the maggots off the ham and then it will be fine to eat.    Jeannette falls out of a moving car and her parents don’t realize she is gone for quite sometime before they return for her.  Her nose is broken, again, no medical care provided.  The four kids, including a brand-new baby ride in the back of a cold U-Haul for a 14 hour drive, with no food, or warmth, while the parents take the scenic route to their destination.  The back doors open while the truck is moving.  Rex tells the children they are lucky because the children could be thrown in jail for riding in the back.  Rex decides to teach Jeannette to swim, he throws her out in a pond and she nearly drowns, every time she swims to the edge for help, he throws her back into the middle.  Rose Mary whips Lori with a paddle in front of her class.  Rose Mary takes her children on a shoplifting trip.  Rex and Rose Mary figure out how to short banks by making a withdrawal inside and outside at the same time.  Rex is tied to a bed with belts and ropes for the better part of a week as he tries to combat his alcoholism.  Jeanette sews stitches to repair a gash on her drunken father’s arm.   Jeanette’s father takes her to a bar as a young teen as a distraction while her father wins money in a pool game.  Rex and Rose Mary don’t pay for coal or electricity.  Their house has icicles on the inside.  The children are hungry and cold.

Synopsis

Four resilient and intelligent children are born to Rose Mary and Rex Walls.   Parents, who grossly fail to provide the basic necessities of life for their children.  Lori, Jeannette, Brian and Maureen learn to care for themselves and each other as their deeply dysfunctional parents struggle with alcoholism and mental illness.  The Walls Family endlessly bounces from no-name towns in Arizona, Nevada and California, in their quest to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors.  They then move to Welch, West Virginia where Rex was raised.  Jeannette, Lori, Brian and Maureen face the overwhelming challenge of “getting out” of Welch and creating successful lives for themselves.  The children move to New York and find success as their parents choose homelessness in New York.  You are as stunned as Jeannette is when you find that they didn’t actually have to live that way – it was a chosen way of life.

I lost a lot of sleep reading Jeannette Wall’s Memoir, as I sat on the edge of the tub reading until the wee hours of the morning, “Just one more chapter”.  The author’s dedication sums it up best, ”To John, for convincing me that everyone who is interesting has a past.”  The author truly has a gift for transforming her sad memories into fine art.  This story is an amazing story of resilience.  However, “PROCEED WITH CAUTION”.  This book is one for your extremely mature high school reader.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1 

Violence: 3 

Sexual Content: 1 

Adult Themes: 2 

 Title: Enna Burning

Author: Shannon Hale

Rating Explanation

Language: “bastard” and name calling

Violence: There are gory battle scenes in which many die. A one-on-one sword fight to the death. People are shot with arrows, beaten up, and burned. Enna and her brother have the ability to set things on fire at will. They both burn the opposing army during separate battles. 

Sexual Content: A couple of innocent kisses. Enna has bathed and is wrapped in a blanket while her clothes are drying, a leering soldier comes in and pulls her blanket off. Luckily someone else enters the tent before he can harm her.

Adult Themes: This ability Enna has is overpowering. She feels an incredibly strong desire to burn things, and is some