A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson

genre: young adult

It's been a LONG time since I read a book that made me forgo all other plans and curl up in my bed until the last page was turned. I love when I have to do that.

What is a Song for Summer? It's a romance, pure and simple - but a romance that begins in the most tumultuous of times in a place on the brink of war. Hitler is already stirring and making life difficult in Germany when Ellen arrives in a picturesque village in Austria. The run-down boarding school where she's taken a position is the least likely place to find love, which is fine for Ellen, who has so much more on her mind than finding a man to marry. However, when the fallout of a war's beginning touches Ellen's life, she does not shirk and we follow Ellen's story throughout Europe as the love that we know she's found works itself out amidst the uncertainty of the Third Reich's advance.

I just don't want to spoil any of the rest of the plot. It's too good, even if it took a detour that caught me completely by surprise and I had to work my way back into the story. Let me just say there are opera divas and storks, musicians and rescues, and one of my favorite scenes of community togetherness that I've ever read. Ibbotson's writing is so, for lack of a better word, RIGHT for this story, it felt real and poignant without being sentimental. While perhaps TOO good, I loved believing in Ellen's goodness, her appreciation for well cooked meals and children who are taken care of. So many things that interest me were tied into this book that while perhaps some of the characters seemed slightly one-dimensional, I just loved the story so much that I didn't care in the slightest.

One thing that this book made me think of was the strength of the British when under attack during the war - and about those ordinary people in mainland Europe who would go to such efforts to save even one person from death. I just like reading about people who will stand up and do the right thing even when the odds are absolutely stacked against you. So there was love AND all that other good stuff. What more could I ask for than that?

Thanks Melissa, for assigning this one to me :)

Sabriel by Garth Nix

genre: young adult, fantasy

I like reading my books with absolutely no expectations. I don't even like to know what they're about, really, I'd much rather rely on the recommendation of a good friend. I need surprise in my stories that much. So, when I picked up Sabriel, I had NO idea of what it would be about, I just knew my friend Tricia put it on my list for the Reading Swap Challenge.

Was I ever pleased.

Sabriel has spent most of her life at school, learning enough magic that by her 17th year, she is able to perform some of the spells necessary to keep the dead in Death. And these dead from outside Death will do anything to keep their false forms, preying on those that are living. When it soon becomes clear that Sabriel needs to go find something precious to her that has been taken, she must leave the safe walls of her school and enter the Kingdom, where magic and the dead will most certainly make her journey a harrowing one.

Can I rave? The fantasy world: brilliant, SO intricate yet easily accessible. Death itself is ingenious, a land of pathways and gates that can not only ensnare Sabriel with its tricks but cough up its victims back to life. The plot: a journey that never bored me, never harped on anything unnecessary. The characters: just right, although the only tiny thing that bothered me was the dialogue occasionally feeling off, but it won't stop me from giving this book five glorious stars.

If you are even thinking of becoming a young adult fantasy fan, put this on the top of your list. I will warn those faint of heart, however. It is a DARK story. Dark and gory and intense. But there are these little moments of redemption throughout, twice I got tears - and maybe its the seriousness of the situation, the feeling that death and its minions are truly looming over you, that makes those moments for Sabriel even sweeter.

The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley

genre: young adult, historical fiction

In the English countryside Kat spends her days embroidering fine clothes to sell and dreaming of the royal life of Queen Elizabeth. Whenever her mind has a free moment, Kat thinks about how she would give anything to know who she really is and how she ended up in that cottage with Grace and her daughter Anna. When a stranger seems to have the answers that Kat's always craved, she'd go anywhere and do whatever it takes to find them for herself.

This is one fun piece of young adult historical fiction. The court intrigue alone is so fun (although some readers may be frustrated trying to keep everyone's names straight). Kat's a very imperfect character but very real - and the time period feels authentic, with all the horribleless that goes with it. The Queen is as hardened and yet fragile as I'd imagined and the whole story just felt plausible enough that I couldn't put it down. When things could've easily broken down into complete bawdiness, the author reigned it in, giving us a sense of what life was like without actually making us live it. With a touch of the mystical throughout, this fun one hit the four-star mark for me.

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

genre: non-fiction, science

The subtitle of this book is: and Other True Tales of Madness, Love and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. The Periodic Table! Chemistry! How could I possibly be completely enthralled by such a book? How could I dare give it five stars when I wasn't able to truly understand a lot of what I read?

Because of the writing, pure and simple.

Kean makes chemistry accessible for the willing-to-make-an-intellectual-effort layperson - but it's not just the chemistry. It's the characters BEHIND the chemistry, the stories of their discoveries and the things they overlooked. It's about the politics and the culture and the drama of the creation of that little set of boxes that we're all so familiar with.

I was fascinated.

I have found myself sharing little anecdotes with my (yes, young) children and my friends. I pulled out the book at dinner tonight and had to tell the story of that "disappearing spoon" to everyone at the table. I loved the history, both in our modern world and the earth itself. It feels like this knowledge is so essential to human life, that these things he is talking about are, literally, at the root of what we're all made of and Kean is just able to share that information in an interesting and not-your-stuffy-old-professor style.

Yes, there is a lot of science in there, but don't be scared though. You can still get so much out of the stories if you're willing to let yourself gloss over the really deep stuff and just glean as much out of it as you can. I'm going to return my copy to the library and then buy my own, so I can read parts of it again. I liked it that much.

The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer

genre: adult fiction/historical fiction

Travel with me to 19th century England and meet Eustacie, the French granddaughter of an old English landowner. Despite a perfectly convenient marriage having been arranged for her, Eustacie's love of adventure soon leads her to a run-in with a band of smugglers and more "adventure" than she could have hoped. There are ruffians of every kind, accused murderers, sensible chaperons and the linchpin? The Talisman Ring. It's the key to proving the innocent of said accused murderer and without it, Eustacie may never find the true adventurous life she so desperately desires.

For a romantic story, this one is quite silly and delightful. Eustacie and her chaperon, Sarah, have such an overpowering desire to be a part of all the excitement, their conversations gave me a few actual chuckle out loud moments. I think it went on a bit longer than necessary and maybe required me to suspend my disbelief a little more than usual, but Heyer creates memorable characters and I do enjoy going along for the ride.

Pay the Piper: A Rock and Roll Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple

genre: middle grade/ya

Interesting twist on the Piped Piper fairy tale -fourteen year old Callie's backstage pass to hear the rock band Brass Rat only makes the secret to their hypnotic music skills more elusive. When all the other children disappear in town, it's up to Callie to put all the pieces together, but will she figure it out in time?

Of course, we see where the plot is going, but the fantastical-fairy element gives the story way more umph, that was the part that kept me interested - it had an element of darkness, too, that makes the Pied Piper have a different veneer than the skipping flute player of olde. I didn't fall in love with Callie as a character, but I thought she served her purpose as spunky-problem-solver-with-heart good enough. While I wasn't always dying to pick it up myself, I think middle grade lovers of fairy tales and FAIRY tales will like the combination of the two in this one.

Howard County Maryland 2011 "Pass the Book" selection