The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Title: The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Year of Publication: 2008
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Pages: 265

First Line: "I used to be someone."

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name.  She has just awoken from a year-long coma, and she's still recovering from the terrible accident that caused it.  Her parents show her home movies of her life, her memories, but she has no recollection.  Is she really the same girl she sees on screen?  Little by little, Jenna begins to remember.  Along with the memories come questions -- questions no one wants to answer for her.  What really happened after the accident?

Source: Back of book.

Review:  In contrast to Scribbler of Dreams, The Adoration of Jenna Fox features a relatively simplistic style and vocabulary.  I found this style to suit the author much better, though it still felt indulgent in places, especially with the inserted poetry, which is also in her other novel.  Overall I enjoyed The Adoration of Jenna Fox even though it was very predictable.  Like SoD, though, the book included characters and events that, in the end, felt entirely irrelevant to the novel as a whole, which was frustrating and left me feeling like some things had not been tied up neatly.  Also frustrating is the lack of knowledge regarding Jenna's personality pre-accident.  There is some indication as to what she was like before, but we know about as much as Jenna knows, which I felt was not the right way to go about this particular scenario.  Pearson left a lot of possibilities unturned, such as the church and its role in the novel, but she does bring up some interesting ideas and points through her story.

Worst part: Feeling of incompleteness

Best part:  Jenna's dad

Grade: C+

Other Books by This Author: The Second Life of Locke Jenkins, The Fox Inheritance, Scribbler of Dreams, The Miles Between, A Room on Lorelei Street, David v. God

Author's Website: Mary E. Pearson

Scribbler of Dreams by Mary E. Pearson

Title: Scribbler of Dreams
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Year of Publication: 2001
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 223

First Line: "'I hate the Crutchfields!'"

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Kaitlin Malone was born to hate the Crutchfields.  The hatred her family has harbored for generations is the one thing Kaitlin knows she can count on.  But with her life turned upside down as she starts her senior year among strangers at a public high school, Kaitlin discovers that even her family's hateful legacy can't steady her -- and that hatred and love are sometimes separated by nothing more than a heartbeat.  It's young Bram Crutchfield, a gentle and compassionate artist, who wins Kaitlin's heart.  And when she tells one lie and then another to conceal her identity to protect their love, Kaitlin is uickly caught up in a web of deceit that threatens to destroy everything she knows and values.

Source: Back of book.

Review:  In a more-or-less Romeo and Juliet story, Pearson uses rich language that seems out of place for her setting and characters.  Aside from somewhat self-indulgent language, Pearson includes characters for the sake of the plot and, while this may be something to commend, it is done in such a way that makes the purpose of each character clear and limits each secondary character from having their own personalities, such as Becky and Abby.  A very abrupt ending and a complicated history of the conflict would have been better written in a longer piece.  Despite the loquacious style, the book moved quickly with mildly surprising events here and there among the more predictable sections.  Maybe worth a read if you don't mind abrupt endings -- the rest can be overlooked for a summer fling read.

Worst part: Ending was too abrupt

Best part:  Allison Crutchfield

Grade: D+

Other Books by This Author: The Second Life of Locke Jenkins, The Fox Inheritance, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, The Miles Between, A Room on Lorelei Street, David v. God

Author's Website: Mary E. Pearson


Currently Reading: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Maybe by Brent Runyon

Title: Maybe
Author: Brent Runyon
Year of Publication: 2006
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 196

First Line: "This sucks. We're moving. The truck just left with all our stuff and mom and dad are waiting for me in the car."

Summary: Maybe everything will be different here.  Maybe I should drive away and never come back.  Maybe my brother didn't mean to.  Maybe my brother was right.  Maybe I can get my girlfriend to say yes.  Maybe no one will ever love me.  Maybe I should be an actor.  Maybe I shouldn't pretend to be deaf.  Maybe if I just mouth the words, no one will know I"m not singing.  But maybe someone will hear me anyway.

Source: Back of book.

Review:  Brent Runyon's novel is not unlike, in theme, Catcher in the Rye.  Throughout the novel, main character, Brian, mourns the death of his older brother.  Meanwhile, Brian copes with moving to a new place, making new friends, dealing with girls, and the challenges of schoolwork.  The novel is slow and is vague throughout.  Much of the events and thoughts seem irrelevant and there's no clear sense of direction, which readers who enjoy plot-driven novels might find off-putting.  Characters are varied and well-portrayed and several events surprised me (though when I read for pleasure, I tend to not project much -- I enjoy being surprised by the text as it comes).  The writing style came across as very choppy and humdrum.  Meanwhile, the ending kind of crept up on me and I felt there were too many loose ends after I finished reading.  Probably not worth a read.
Worst part: Pace and lack of solid plot

Best part:  Brian's guidance counselor

Grade: D

Other Books by This Author: The Burn Journals, Surface Tension: A Novel in Four Summers

Author's Website: Burn Journals

iBoy by Kevin Brooks

Title: iBoy
Author: Kevin Brooks
Year of Publication: 2010
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Pages: 288

First Line: "The mobile phone that shattered my skull was a 32GB iPhone 3GS."

Summary: Before the attack, Tom Harvey was just an average teenager. But a head-on collision with high technology has turned him into an actualized App. Fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain. And they're having an extraordinary effect on his every thought.


 Because now Tom knows, sees, and can do more than any normal boy ever could.


But with his new powers comes a choice: To avenge Lucy, the girl he loves, will he hunt down the vicious gangsters who hurt her? Will he take the law into his own electric hands and exterminate them from the South London housing projects where, by fear and violence, they rule?


Not even his mental search engine can predict the shocking outcome of iBoy's actions.

Source: Back of book.

Review:  This is not my favorite Kevin Brooks novel.  But it isn't my least favorite, either.  Brooks rushes through iBoy in some ways and, unlike similar stories projected in film, iBoy does not have the advantage of montage, which seems to pop up in many superhero movies (think Spiderman as he discovers and refines his powers).  The concept of the novel was interesting enough, though the characters who carried it out were somewhat less interesting and complex than characters in previous novels by Brooks.  Nothing felt particularly out of place with dialogue, but overall, the book had a slightly manufactured feel which took away from what it could have been.  Maybe if it was longer and Brooks had taken more time to develop various pieces of the book, it would have been better.  
Worst part: Lack of complexity.

Best part:  The chapter numbers. Check those out -- they're super cool.

Grade: B-

Other Books by This Author: Darn, Being, Black Rabbit Summer, Candy, Kissing the Rain, Lucas, Martyn Pig, The Road of the Dead

Dark Shadows (2012) Movie Review

Title: Dark Shadows
Director: Tim Burton

Starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green

Year of Release: 2012
Genre: Comedy
Length: 113 minutes

Rated: PG-13

Tagline: Every family has its demons.

Summary: An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins, is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional descendants are in need of his protection.

Source: IMDB.com

Review: We all know the Tim Burton formula -- dark, a little comedy, some Helena Bonham Carter, some creepy kids, and Johnny Depp.  This film is no different.  Dark Shadows is based on a television show, and it shows in the movie.  Most everything is underdeveloped and superficial -- the characters, the writing, and the plot line, especially.  With the quick switch in main character toward the end of the beginning, the movie is unable to hold viewers' attention.  Don't get too attached to character Victoria Winters -- she is more or less ignored the rest of the film and is clearly there as a device to the plot and nothing more.

Meanwhile, the acting, as in many of Burton's films, is plastic and over the top.  I'm inclined to think that this is the fault of the director, given its commonality in Burton's films.  Depp tends to be better as an actor, in my opinion, in movies other than those directed by Burton.  This is also the case with Bonham Carter and on the one instance of I've seen with Eva Green (who starred in Womb with Matt Smith).  Other characters, in addition to being portrayed with bad acting, seem entirely unnecessary to the plot, such as David's father and cousin, despite his cousin's action at the end of the film.

The subjects presented in the film were simply too much to handle in a 113-minute movie.  There were too many questions (both relating to the plot and themes of the movie) to tackle.

That said, there were a few redeeming moments of the film, including Alice Cooper's cameo and Depp's character's predictable reaction to Cooper's name and appearance.  Other viewers in the theater did laugh at some parts, though I did not find the attempt at humor funny.  Some of the humor and other content seemed to be pushing it for a PG-13 movie as well.

I'd wait for this one on cable.

Grade: D+

People Who Liked This Film Also Liked (According to IMDB): What Lies Beneath, The Uninvited, The Amityville Horror, The Ring Two, Shutter Island, The Ninth Gate

Own The Night-Summer Read

Summer Read Registration is Now Open!  

REGISTER:

· For summer read at the reference desk

· For teen programs in the calendar section of our website: www.derrypl.org

Or call 603-432-6140 or email Erin at erinr@derrypl.org

Summer Read Challenge

June 18th-August 16th

Pick up a summer read packet and reading log at the reference desk!  Log your books from  June 18th-August 16th.  You will receive a prize for every 3 books you read. Bring your final reading log to the end of the summer pizza party to pick out your prizes, have pizza, and screen our teen horror movie. Prizes will include books, magazines, comic books and more!

 

Own the Night Manga Drawing Workshop

July 24th from 3:30-4:30

Join local artist, Kristine Brock, to learn how to draw Manga!  We will be centering our lesson around the summer read theme, Own The Night, so come ready to draw dark, gothic, mysterious characters!  Beginner - Experienced artists are welcome and encouraged to attend.  Registration Required

 

Murder Mystery Party

July 25th from 6:30-8:00

There's been a murder at the book fair!  Put on your crime solving cap and come ready to play a part as we delve into discovering who is responsible for the death of the famed author, Stephanie Milne! Registration Required

 

Forensics Friday

July 27th from 3:00-4:00

Did you know that there are seven common fingerprint patterns?  Join us for an afternoon of sleuthing as we learn about fingerprinting, crime scene analysis and more! No Registration Required

 

Mystery Writers Group

Bi-weekly starting June 20th, from 6:30-8:00

Join us to write mysteries.  You can focus on short stories, novels, or any  length/style that works for you!  Be ready to write, critique, workshop and more.
The final session will be a public reading, so bring your friends and family and come  read your work in a supportive setting! No Registration Required

 

Cooking Club

Bi-weekly starting June 19th, from 3:30-4:30

Join us for some good eats this summer!  We will be making island smoothies, soft pretzels, decorative fruit tarts, guacamole, salsa and pita chips, spring rolls, and lemon lavender cookies.  Learn to prepare great food and have fun with friends, too!  Registration Required

 

 Horror Movie Making

Every Thursday starting June 21st, from 3:00-4:30

Come and collaborate with other teens as we write, rehearse and film our own horror movie.  Be ready to think creatively, get messy with monster make up, and have fun with others.  No Registration Required

 

 Teen Advisory Group

July 10th and August 7th from 3:30-4:30

Join our teen advisory group to help brainstorm, plan and execute programs, displays and more in the teen space.  TAG meets once a month in the teen section to discuss what we can make more inviting to our teen patrons.  

 

Have a great summer!

A Green Summer

Hello all!

I hope you're all excited for the summer to start -- I know I am!  This summer I will be guiding discussions on some of YA author John Green's novels.  To find out more, check out the Facebook event!  If you're interested, I encourage you to sign up at the circulation desk.

I'm looking forward to seeing you there!