Baggage by Wendy Phillips

Baggage explores the issue of illegal refugees and human trafficking in this novel set in Vancouver, British Columbia. The story is told in verse, through voices of five people, Ms. Nelson a teacher, Brittany one of Ms. Nelson's students, Leah who is Brittany's sister, Thabo an illegal refugee and Kevin who is a friend of Brittany and Leah.

After returning from a trip to Japan with her students, Ms. Nelson notices the boy leaning against the baggage carousel in the International Arrivals area of the Vancouver International Airport. All of her students have been picked up except Brittany whose mother, an ER nurse, is late. That boy is Thabo who has been waiting for three hours after the old woman who accompanied him on the plane left to get food. She took his passport and papers and he has no idea where she is. Thabo doesn't speak English.

Ms. Nelson decides to intervene and takes Thabo to the airport police but no one can understand him. Eventually he is left with Immigration who will place him  in foster care while they determine his country of origin and his age.

At home, Brittany tells Leah and her mom that the boy was abandoned like "unclaimed baggage". She believes 

"He might be  a refugee a child soldier
maybe
a terrorist's kid
maybe
a victim of child trafficking."

While Brittany is focusing on Thabo and his situation, her friend Kevin, who does all the research for her social justice initiatives, begins to feel left out and used. At the same time, Brittany's sister Leah, who is a catcher on the local baseball team, begins to notice Kevin.

Brittany confronts Ms. Nelson after class one day, telling her that Kevin's research has shown that Thabo could end up in jail because he has no passport and no proof of age. She asks Ms. Nelson to find out what is going on with Thabo and tells her that her parents are willing to have him stay with her family. That night Ms. Nelson learns that Thabo has been placed in detention because of his lack of documentation and because he's considered a flight risk. The x-rays seem to indicate that he is likely older than eighteen years of age.

This news results in Brittany ramping up a massive social media campaign about Thabo's situation. She forces her family to take in Thabo and calls Kevin late that night to have him get his church minister involved. But when Border Services decides he's to be deported, Thabo seeks asylum in the Reverend's church. What they don't know is that the people who brought Thabo to Canada are actively looking for him and will stop at nothing to get him back.

Discussion

Baggage, a story about an illegal immigrant, tackles a host of social issues through a story told in verse. When Thabo is supposedly abandoned at Vancouver International Airport, he becomes the latest project of Brittany, a teenager who is described as a "passionate crusader". Soon Brittany has her family, her school and the community involved in her social media campaign to rescue Thabo. But it turns out that Brittany is so focused on publicity and activism that she doesn't ask the hard questions about Thabo's situation.

The novel attempts to focus on the social issue of illegal immigrants and human trafficking but there are also other issues explored such as the use of social media in dealing with social issues. A subplot is the blossoming romance between Kevin, who is largely ignored by Brittany, and her sister, Leah. Phillips tells Thabo's story using free verse, a format that provides only the basics of the story while highlighting the characters. Through Phillips effective free verse, readers will get a good sense of the main characters, what motivates them and how they are different.

It is the character of Brittany however, who steals the focus of the reader from illegal immigrant and potential trafficking victim, Thabo. Brittany, a master at generating publicity for causes, succeeds in her attempt to generate media attention for Thabo's plight, but at the same time reveals herself as someone so completely focused on her online image and on using social media, that she forgets about the human element, the real people involved and how they are being affected.

This is seen in her relationship, or lack of it, with her friend Kevin who has a crush on Brittany. Kevin begins to feel used as Brittany ramps up her media campaign for Thabo. He notes she "loves projects loves to talk to crowds" and "Her favourite part is getting people passionate about issues..." but he wishes he was "an issue and she would get passionate about me." Brittany writes slogans, considers "a poster series made into memes" and "A few sound bites from Kevin's research". Kevin is a means to an end, her researcher and not much more. Her use of Kevin, who is Chinese, in a multicultural poster with herself and Thabo is hurtful. She tells him, he is included because they are all good looking. Kevin knows it's "not a compliment, just a strategy".

For Brittany, Thabo is a "project". Brittany's focus is almost entirely on using Thabo to enhance her own image and social media campaign. In her effort to create a media storm around Thabo and his situation, Brittany forgets that she is dealing with a real person who may have experienced significant trauma. She doesn't take the time to think about how events are affecting Thabo. For example, when she brings him to stay in her family's home, Brittany is annoyed that he doesn't act grateful and she's irritated by the fact that he yells in his sleep.

Gradually Thabo becomes lost in Brittany's social media campaign, becoming a mere prop. When she brings him to school, it's more to show him off, and to generate her image of a social justice warrior.
"I'm bringing him
to school next week
to get him started on his missed education
to show him to everyone."

Brittany is excited to organize the Global Leadership club meeting, noting, "The club executive will be impressed. They'll all listen to me. It'll be cool." As the situation develops and Thabo takes refuge in the church, Brittany undertakes and organizes an amazing list of publicity stunts that include concerts, bake sales, and TV interviews.

In contrast to Brittany, Leah is more aware of how these events are affecting Thabo. She sees his humanity and treats him like a person who may be frightened and uncertain. Leah immediately tries to communicate with Thabo, discovering that immigration officials determined his language is Sotho, from southern Africa. This leads her to work on learning a few words of Sotho, practicing them over and over. When they take Thabo to school, it is Leah's quiet, "Ho lokile, It's okay." that brings a smile to his face. While Brittany is concerned about people donating to the Thabo Defense Fund, Leah worries that "Thabo is freaked out" and that other students might gang up on him. She checks in on him during the day.

It is Leah's quiet and calming approach to Thabo and her ability to empathize with others that draws Kevin to her. Leah recognizes that Kevin likes Brittany but she knows her sister isn't serious about any relationship, that she "dabbles in boyfriends". But Kevin begins to feel an attraction to Leah, who has a calming effect on him.

Ironically it is Kevin and Leah who are thrown together in an attempt to save Thabo. And incredibly Brittany continues to make the story about herself.
I post photos of the fire
do a few more selfies
pick the one
that shows to advantage
my cheekbones
and eyelashes
smoldering ruins in the background.

I Snapchat my friends
Tweet my networks
Instagram my circle, ...
update the Facebook page...

I change my profile picture
#GirlOnFire

To her dismay, Brittany finds herself on the outside of the trending story looking in!

Phillips has crafted a story that is both engaging and that offers many themes to explore. It's timely considering the ongoing refugee crisis in the world today. But the novel also offers young readers the chance to explore the issues surround social media and how it is used today. The novel's title, Baggage is an obvious reference to Thabo who is abandoned at the airport like a piece of baggage. But it might also be a reference to the "baggage" or emotional and psychological issues each of the characters have. There's plenty to explore in this intriguing novel.

Book Details:

Baggage by Wendy Phillips
Regina, Sask.:   Coteau Books    2019
295 pp.

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty

Twelve-year-old Lucy Callahan was struck by lightning four years ago. Lucy was playing with her friend Cecelia, outside the apartment building she and Nana lived in when a sudden thunderstorm developed. Lucy decided to climb a chain link fence which was struck by lightning. The lightning strike knocked Lucy unconscious, stopping her heart, and her friend to the ground. Lucy's life was saved by the apartment maintenance man who was able to restart her heart with a defibrillator. Other than burns to her hands, Lucy seemed to be fine. That is until a week later.

While watching television with Nana, Lucy was inexplicably able to calculate the cost of a car from monthly payments in her head. Suddenly, Lucy who was in Grade 2 and learning addition and subtraction, could do difficult math calculations. Doctors diagnosed her with acquired savant syndrome, meaning she had developed a profound talent - in her case, the ability to do mathematics.

In reality, Lucy's brain was damaged by the lightning strike, part of the left lobe of her brain was shut down, resulting in the right side working overtime. Lucy can do advanced mathematical calculations, calendar math, recognize mathematical patterns and she "sees" math with every number having it's own colour and shape. Lucy also has a fear of germs which leads her to sanitize every surface she touches and she needs to sit/stand three times before she sits anywhere. She also needs to count all the words before she can read anything. Because of all her peculiar habits, Lucy has been homsechooled since her accident and now at the age of twelve has passed high school, the GED and gotten perfects chores on her SATs. She wants to attend college but her nana believes she is too young.

Lucy's beloved Uncle Paul who is a marine visits their apartment before he moves away to California. He gives Lucy a pendant of a lightning bolt. During his short stay, he supports Nana in her decision to have Lucy attend public school. Lucy doesn't want to go to middle school but instead wants to go to college. She believes she can do everything online. However she hasn't left the apartment in four weeks and her only friends are online ones that she's made through the various math forums.

After a brief tour and a meeting with Dr. Cobb, principal of East Hamlin Middle School, Lucy is enrolled in Grade 7. Nana insists she attend for a year, "Make 1 friend. Do 1 thing outside o f these walls. Read 1 book not written by an economist or a mathematician." Lucy is certain that attending school will be a disaster.

Despite her strange habits and the fact that she's new to the school, Lucy does make two friends; Windy Sitton who loves musicals and is intrigued by Lucy's strangeness and Levi Boyd, a boy with two moms who loves photography and is caught cheating off of Lucy during their assessment in math class. Lucy is  made fun of and her strange habits earn her the label "cleaning lady". She spends most of her time attempting to hide her mathematical genius. She calculates how many questions she should get wrong on tests to that it won't look like she is hiding something. Lucy uses her math abilities to help her group of Windy and Levi in their class project. As her friendship with her two classmates grows, Lucy calculates that she can let them in on her secret - that she's really a math genius. However, Lucy begins to realize that while numbers can help predict certain things, not everything in life can be determined mathematically. She might be a math genius but Lucy discovers she's making many miscalculations about trust and the meaning of friendship.

Discussion

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl is an enjoyable story about a young girl trying to come to terms with her differences while learning to trust and build friendships.

After her brain is damaged by a lightning strike, making her a math savant, Lucy Callahan believes her life is set, the equation of life has been solved - she will go to university and study math. Her unusual repetitive behaviours have forced her into the solitude of home, where she is taught by her Nana. But her wise Nana knows this is not healthy for Lucy and forces her into a year of school, to make a friend, and do something within the community. She knows this will be a difficult task for her young granddaughter who sees everything as numbers, but she hopes it will broaden Lucy's perspective.

And so Lucy enters school with the intention of simply surviving the year. However middle school forces her to interact with other people, something her mathematical abilities cannot really help her to do. Lucy uses her mathematical abilities to help her navigate life. She sees everything in mathematical terms. For example, the colours of clothing people all have numbers for Lucy. "I wear a teal-and-pink-striped shirt (like the colors of 107 and 42) and dark jeans." What Lucy can't understand are people and this difficulty leads to the inevitable crisis.

Initially she makes a good decision about who to tell about her mathematical gift. Although Windy is her budding friend, Lucy decides first to tell Levi about what happened to her at age eight. "I can't explain it, but I trust that Levi will keep my secret."  Despite the fact that Levi cheated off of her on their assessment and got them both in trouble, Lucy reasons, "Unlike Windy, he rarely talks about other people. I know I should get it over with and tell her, too. She's my best friend, and she shares every detail of her life with me...The problem is, she also tells me about everyone else. From her mom - who needs to wax a mustache - to which kids repeated kindergarten. There's no controlling information once it's in Windy's head. No vault. No lock and key. No secret combinations."

As it turns out Lucy was correct in her assessment of both Levi and Windy. She does eventually tell Windy who is upset that Levi knew before her. Levi explains to Windy that Lucy struggles to trust people. "Give her a break," Levi says, opening another box of candy. 'She did tell you a minute ago. Lucy's like a nervous teacup Chihuahua. She takes a while to trust someone.' " Levi likens himself to a trusty golden retriever.  Windy breaks Lucy's trust by revealing her secret at her birthday party.

While Lucy can understand advanced mathematical concepts she cannot understand Windy's betrayal of her secret. "For someone who is supposed to be smart, I can't figure out how to get Pi adopted, and I can't figure out Windy. Why did she tell my secret to someone who is always mean to her. She chose Maddie over me. Maddie." Lucy's miscalculation results in her feeling betrayed and angry. But when Windy confronts Lucy, apologizing for her actions, she forces Lucy to really listen to her. Lucy believes Windy told her secret "to get the other girls to like you by making fun of me..." however, Windy reveals that she wanted her friends to be Lucy's friends too. Lucy questions why Windy wants to be her friend and Windy states,  "You never complain about my love of musicals or my causess. You don't try to change people. It's like you're only trying to understand people."  Windy tells Lucy that she feels accepted. However for Lucy people will always be an unsolvable equation. "I will never understand people. In algebra, you can solve an equation when you have 1 unknown variable. People are equations with dozens of variables. Basically unsolvable."

By the end of the novel, Lucy is beginning to understand that life is not an equation with a set solution. For example, where she once thought that she would just want to move on to college, she now has several possibilities for schooling in January: she can continue on at East Hamlin, she can attend NCASME or she can home school. Attending school has also helped Lucy understand that others have their own problems something she comes to realize about classmate and mean girl, Maddie.

McAnulty has crafted a delightful novel about friendship, forgiveness and acceptance.  The Miscalcuations of Lightning Girl is populated with realistic, endearing characters: the trustworthy Levi, Windy who thinks big and wants to save the world, and the understanding, kind Mr. Stoker who pushes Lucy to share her gift with the world. Overall  The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl is an enjoyed read.

Book Details:

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty
New York: Random House     2018
293 pp.

The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

Fallon, youngest daughter of Virico Lugotorix, King of the Cantii tribe of Prydain, lives in Durovernum. Fallon's two older brothers died when she was a baby and her mother died days after her birth. Her older sister Sorcha was killed in battle with the Romans. King Virico was captured by Caesar and his legions and Sorcha was lost in the battle to free him. 

 It has been seven years since the Roman legions have left Prydain, whom they call Britannia, but Fallon and her people know they will one day return. Prydain is too rich in gold, tin and timber and slaves to be abandoned. Fallon plans to be ready like the rest of her Celtic tribe to fight off the Roman invaders, as her sister Sorcha did.

The novel opens on Fallon's seventeenth birthday with her attempting to execute a chariot maneuver called the Morrigan's Flight, named after "the fearsome winged war goddess who flew over battlefields collecting the souls of the worthy dead." Fallon knows this to be "the supreme act of a true Cantii warrior." Driving her chariot is Maelgwyn Ironhand, the boy whom Fallon loves. She hopes that she will be made a member of her father's war band.

After almost killing herself in her attempt, Mael is furious and begs Fallon to allow him to ask her father for her hand. However Fallon declines, begging Mael to wait as she expects her father to make her part of his war band. It is not unusual for the women of the tribes of Prydain - the Cantii, Catuvellauni, Trinovantes and Iceni to choose to fight with the men warriors.

Fallon's birthday coincides with the Eve of Lughnasa, when the four tribes of Prydain came together to feast. At the feast that night, Fallon is horrified when her father betroths her to Mael's brother Aeddan, who is now king of the Trinovantes. Although Fallon loves Aeddan as a brother, it is Mael she wishes for her husband. Her father tells her he will not make her a war chief because he doesn't want to lose her the way he lost Sorcha.

Fallon decides to run away to avoid marriage to Aeddan and asks Mael to join her. He refuses. On her way out of the village she encounters Aeddan and Mael fighting and to her horror sees Aeddan kill Mael. She is grabbed from behind and knocked out.

Fallon awakes to find herself on a boat gliding down the River Dwr, a captive of slave traders. On the slave galley heading to Rome, Fallon is questioned by the Macedonian slave trader who tells her his name is Charon. Charon attempts learn Fallon's name and questions her about the sword she was carrying. It has the engraving of a triple raven on it - the mark of the Morrigan. Fallon tells him she did not steal the sword but that it belonged to her sister, a great warrior, who gave it to her. Charon orders her to be taken to the hold but not to be harmed in any way.

They land on the north shore of Gaul (France) and travel overland by caravan in wooden cage carts. Fallon and the other slaves wear a slave collar and are chained together at the neck and at the ankle. The territory they are passing through is dangerous, after Caesar defeated the Gallic king, Vercingetorix (Arviragus) and destroyed the Arverni tribe leaving the land filled with raiders. Fallon fights with another slave, Elka who is a member of the Virani tribe. Their fight results in the cart tipping over and crashing into a ravine and both Fallon and Elka escaping.

Their escape is short lived however as Charon recaptures them and they are taken to the port of Massilia. There they are forced onto another slave galley that will be accompanied by a Roman legion ship under the  authority of Decurion Caius Antonius Varro. Their journey is short however when the slave galley is attacked by pirates. Fallon and Elka are able to free themselves from the ship's hold and Fallon attempts to kill the Roman Decurion. However, he convinces her to attack the pirates. As the ship is sinking, Fallon rescues Charon who insists on saving a small trunk.

In Rome, Fallon and the other girls captured are prepared for the slave auction. Fallon has no idea what her fate will be nor why she merits the special treatment by Charon. What will her future be in the city that is the center of the world?

Discussion

Arviragus (Vercingetorix) surrendering to Julius Caesar

The Valiant is arguably one of the best novels of 2017. It has a fierce, plucky heroine, is set in both Celtic Britain and in Rome at the height of its power, and is a story filled with brutal battles and Roman intrigue. Added to this is the blossoming forbidden romance between a Roman Decurion and a barbarian warrior.

Livingston portrays both tribal life and customs in Celtic Britain in approximately 46 B.C as well as life in Rome during Caesar's reign. Female gladiators, known as gladiatrices existed but were probably not the norm as they would have gone against what Roman's considered the ideal for women - that is being wives and mothers. There is some evidence for their existence and there seems to be some discussion around what they wore, if they were slaves, how they fought and even if they existed during Caesar's reign. We know from historical accounts that the Emperor Domitian had gladiator contests that involved women. 

Livingston models her gladiatrices after the male gladiators; Fallon wears a helmet as well as a breastplate and a leather skirt, her fights are not to the death as portrayed in film as gladiatrices were slaves.  Readers will learn a bit about the different types of gladiators and their training. For example in the gladiator school (Ludus Achillea) run by her sister, Fallon fights Gratia who is a Murmillo, a gladiator who uses a sword and heavy shield as well as Meriel who is a Retiarius, a gladiator who fights with a trident and a rope net.

In the novel, Livingston uses Caesar's Triumphs as the setting for Fallon's own victory. Fallon takes part in Caesar's Triumphs, which was a series of events to celebrate Caesar's military victories, especially the conquering of Britain. Beforehand she meets the king she worshiped as a young girl, the imprisoned Arviragus. Known as King Vercingetorix to the Romans, he is no longer the young, fiery leader she remembers. He has been kept in a cell for years with the intention of parading him in front of the people so they could see how terrible he was and what a victory this was for Caesar. Afterwards he would be taken back to prison and strangled. He advises Fallon to win the heart of the people and of Caesar so she can win her freedom.

Besides the detailed descriptions of battles and intrigue, Livingston also weaves a budding romance  between Fallon and Decurion Varro into her story.  Although this is easily a stand-alone book, Livingston has a sequel planned which will likely tie up some loose ends. For example, it is never revealed who is behind the threats to Fallon and her relationship with Caius Varro remains unrequited.

Overall, The Valiant is an exciting novel with a strong female protagonist and several strong female secondary characters that captures life in ancient Rome during the time of Julius Caesar.

Book Details:

The Valiant by Lesley Livingston
Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.     2017
372 pp.

Replica by Lauren Oliver

Replica is Lauren Oliver's newest young adult offering. The novel is described as a "flip book" with two stories that can be read either separately or interchangeably, one or multiple chapters at a time.

GEMMA
Sixteen year old Gemma Ives lives in a beautiful mansion in North Carolina with her mom, Kristina and her father Geoffrey who co-founded the sixth largest pharmaceutical company, Fine & Ives. Gemma's health has never been good. She's overweight and because of her numerous health issues she's not allowed to participate in gym. Her best friend is April Ruiz, a dark haired beauty.  Both April and Gemma have overly protective parents.  Gemma had resigned herself to spending spring break at home but April managed to convince both their parents to allow them to drive to Bowling Springs, Florida where April's grandparents lived. They plan to leave on Saturday April 19.

When Gemma arrives home from school on the Friday she finds the police at her house investigating a threatening act of vandalism in which a Frankenstein mask was thrown through a window and a note stating "your sick your a monster you deserve to die"  Gemma believes the perpetrator of this was mean girl Chloe DeWitt however she overhears her father and mother talking about the break-in that evening. Her father insists that this is a message for him. From their conversation, Gemma learns that there was a breach at Haven and that "one of them escaped". Although her father believes "it won't live. No way it can live." he is concerned he will be in serious trouble if what is going on at Haven is discovered. That's because he knew what Saperstein was doing with the new funding even though he left the pharmaceutical company, Fine and Ives that he helped found. Gemma has no idea what her parents are discussing but what happened ends up affecting her spring break plans. Because Bowling Springs is only fifty miles from Haven, Gemma's parents decide to pull her from her spring break trip.

Gemma is completely desolate at losing her chance to spend the break with April. On her third day into break she is accosted by a strange man who seems vaguely familiar to her,  who knows her name and who questions her about Haven. She is able to get away and goes into the Quick-Mart where a classmate, Pete Rogers works, to call her mother.

That night, Gemma begins researching into Haven, Dr. Saperstein and her father's former company Fine & Ives. She learns the Haven Institute is a research facility located on Spruce Island in Florida, founded by Richard Haven. Haven died in a car accident the year Gemma was born and was replaced by Dr. Mark Saperstein whom Gemma's father knew. She also discovers that her father's company Fine & Ives Pharmaceuticals had contracted Haven to undertake the company's research but this was years after her father left the company over the direction it was taking. What interests Gemma is the conspiracy websites, specifically HavenFiles.com by Jacob Witz. Witz had tracked down a "Nurse M" who worked at Haven but before he could interview her she was found dead from suicide.

Pete Rogers shows up at Gemma's home that evening to return her change and for a tour of her palatial home. When he mentions that he's leaving for Florida in the morning, Gemma decides that she needs to get to Florida and to Spruce Island to learn what she can about Haven Institute.  Pete agrees to take her and the next morning, Gemma quietly leaves her home and the two drive to Florida. On the way down they learn there has been an explosion off Barrel Key and fire burning out of control on Spruce Island. Pete realizes this is where Gemma is planning to go. 

When Gemma arrives in Barrel Key,  Haven is on fire and a huge demonstration is occurring. She manages to convince Pete to drop her off and Gemma finds a way down to the beach. It is here she meets Jake Witz who tells her he can get her much closer to Haven. He indicates the none of the staff at Haven will talk about what goes on there, except for Nurse M. After spending hours kayaking through the marsh, they hear voices and hide in the mangrove trees. Can Gemma figure out what's really going on at Haven and what her connection is to the facility?

LYRA

Lyra lives in the Haven Institute. Demonstrators on the shores of Barrel Key can often be heard chanting and calling them demons and monsters and Lyra believes they are probably right. She awakens one night to the power going off and the nurses coming to check their room to ensure they are all present. There is a Code Black which means that someone has escaped and Lyra learns later on that is is number 72. 

To Lyra there are two kinds of humans: "natural-born humans" and "human models, males and females made in the laboratory, transferred to the surrogate birthers who lived in the barracks." These latter humans are clones, but at Haven they are called replicas. Each replica is referred to by a model and a number.  Lyra and the other replicas believed the numbers were their names but Dr. O'Donnell  named the replicas after different constellations and she also taught Lyra how to read. One of the replicas named by Dr. O'Donnell is number six who is called Cassiopeia. Eventually, Dr. O'Donnell left Haven because Dr. Saperstein was unhappy with the way she helped the replicas.

Replicas often have serious medical problems such as organ failure. Lyra has been experiencing nausea and vomiting but when she's examined by Nurse Swineherd she doesn't tell her about this. Eventually Lyra's vomiting is discovered and she is taken to the hospital which she calls the Box. Later that night when Lyra feels nauseous she decides to go outside to vomit. When she returns she finds Cassiopeia in an altercation with Dr. Saperstein and the nurses who have discovered she has been hiding objects in her mattress. The next day Lyra decides to hide her special belongings on the north part of the island and it is there she discovers the missing male number 72. It is a this point that there is a huge explosion at Haven. Three bombs are detonated at the facility utterly destroying it. Fleeing, Lyra discovers a badly wounded Cassiopeia.  Dragging Cassiopeia, Lyra and 72 hide in the marsh while soldiers search for survivors. However, Cassiopeia dies and Lyra and 72 are forced to leave her as the guards continue to search for the missing replicas. As they hide in the reeds Lyra and 72 meet two people - another boy and girl and are confronted with an astonishing reality. How can this be and what is the connection of the girl who looks like Cassiopeia to Haven?

Discussion

Replica is marketed as a "flip book" with two separate stories titled Gemma and Lyra that can be read either in alternating chapters or completely separately. I recommend reading these two intertwined stories in alternating chapters, something the book design makes awkward. Replica would have been written in alternating narratives as readers would want to read both stories anyways.

Replica is an interesting story that deals with human cloning and a young girl's attempt to uncover the mystery that involves her father and her past. What she uncovers is a mystery that involves three girls: Gemma, Cassiopeia and Lyra and the revelation that things are not as they seem.

**spoilers**

Gemma and Jake determine that Haven has been experimenting with prions which are an infectious agent composed of protein. Some prions have the ability to replicate by causing properly folded proteins to change into misfolded proteins and therefore lose their functionality. When prions spread throughout the body, usually in the central nervous system, in this manner,  the result is prion disease.  Prion disease develops "when a person or animal ingests the infected tissue, such as a person eating meat from an infected animal" and develops "mad cow disease". Lyra tells Jake and Gemma that the replicas are filled prions and the doctors were always testing their bodies for prion penetration. Jake's internet searches indicate that Dr. Saperstein considers prions as a potential biological warfare agent. Prion disease which is untreatable and fatal could be used to disable terrorist cells. Jake tells Gemma "they've been using the replicas to make prions. They've been growing the disease inside them" This discovery makes Lyra feel anger because she did not ask to be made. Trying to understand and wanting to know the truth however, has given Lyra a purpose in her life. 

Both Gemma and Lyra uncover the shocking truth of their identities. Gemma believes she is a human with a mother and a father while Lyra believes she is a clone or to use the term in the novel, a replica. However, Gemma's efforts to uncover the truth behind Haven and her family's connection to the mysterious facility reveal a completely different reality. The truth is revealed when they meet up with Rick Harliss the man who attempted to grab Gemma near her home. He holds the missing pieces to the puzzle.

Harliss who at one time worked around the Ives's home, reveals to Gemma that her parents lost a baby girl named Emma before she was born. Around this time his wife Aimee had a baby girl named Brandy-Nicole and six months after Brandy's birth, Gemma showed up at the Ives home. Aimee noticed that the new baby looked identical  and that's when Harliss who was beginning to understand what was going on at Haven,  realized that Geoffrey Ives had his dead daughter cloned. Gemma is a replica of the Ives first child, Emma. Harliss also reveals that while he was in de-tox his ex-wife sold Brandy-Nicole but to whom he has no idea. With the information Harliss has given them Gemma realizes that Dr. Saperstein began taking kids whose parents would likely not miss them to use as experimental subjects at Haven when funding became scarce. "...if they couldn't afford to keep making them...Well, he took children he thought wouldn't be missed. He used them to test on. Just long enough to get the money he needed." Based on what Harliss tells her about his daughter, Gemma also realizes that Brandy-Nicole was one of those children and that Lyra is Harliss's missing daughter.  So in fact Gemma is a replica and Lyra is not. Gemma also realizes that her being a clone explains the source of all her health problems.

Learning their true identities is a shock for both Gemma and Lyra. Gemma is horrified. "She was a freak and a monster. There was no doubt about that now." However Pete makes her understand that how she was created does not matter to him as he feels she is "perfect". Knowing that she is replica does not change how he feels about her.  Lyra too is stunned to learn her true origin. She has a father and she's not sure she wants one. Neither Lyra nor 72 have any concept of what a family is nor what it means to love.  Lyra's concept of a mother is only what's she's experienced at Haven. "Her idea of mother looked much like the nurses and the Haven staff. Mother was someone to feed and clothe you and make sure you took your medicines." Her feelings about a father are equally confused. "She didn't want a Father. She had never even known what a father did, had never completely understood why fathers were necessary." Even the fact that she was naturally conceived leaves her confused. "...never had she truly thought about being a person, natural-born, exploded into being by chance." "She didn't want love, not from a stranger, not from a father. She was a replica." When Caelum turns away from Lyra because he is a clone and she is not, she like Pete did with Gemma, tells him that it doesn't matter because they each chose the other unconditionally.

In this way, Replica explores how modern biotechnology has influenced how we think about ourselves and what makes us human and how others might view those made with those technologies. It considers how modern technologies undertaken purely for the pursuit of knowledge without considering the ethical issues involved can be dehumanizing and immoral.  While Oliver considers on a personal level how clones and natural born humans might view one another she also touches on how doctors and researchers might view clones and human experimentation too. For example at Haven the scientists and nurses and doctors do not consider the replicas to be persons but research subjects with no rights. By creating entire batches that die, such as the yellow batch, they develop a cavalier attitude towards human life. Their attitudes are reflected in how Lyra views herself.

Lyra does not consider herself a human person because this is what she's been told. "But that's what they were: bodies. Human and yet not people. She hadn't so far been able to figure out why. She looked, she thought, like a normal person. So did the other female replicas. They'd been made from normal people, and even birthed from them." Likewise the staff at Haven also do not consider 72, Lyra or Cassiopeia to be persons either, often referring to them by the pronoun, "it".  Lyra believes there is something substantially different, "some invisible quality"  between herself and normal humans. Lyra hates "that she could look like a human, and yet she was not human, and they could tell."

When Gemma and Lyra meet neither can understand the other. Because Gemma looks like Cassiopeia, Lyra assumes (correctly as it turns out) someone "made" her and that she is a replica and that Gemma does not know she is a clone. Gemma and Jake's kindness towards Lyra confuse her especially when Gemma identifies Lyra and 72 as "people". "We're not people," Lyra said. "You said, 'These poor people have been through god knows what.' But we're replicas. God didn't make us. Dr. Saperstein did. He's our god."

Lyra's view of her body is not healthy either. She hasn't considered the beauty of the human body which she saw only as parts. "She'd never noticed how beautiful bodies could be. She'd thought of them only as parts, machine components that serviced a whole." 72 also has a distorted view of his body. He's only ever been called by a number and he admits that when he was a child he thought he might be an animal.

Oliver repeatedly references God as a theme in her novel. Lyra refers to Dr. Saperstein on more than one occasion as god even sometimes as a God with a sneer on his face. When Lyra had seen an alligator near the grounds at Haven, she thinks about how God made this beast but not her. "God made that creature, that monster with a taste for blood, and loved it. But he had not made her."  To Lyra, being made by a loving God matters. In her narrative, Gemma notes how beautiful one of her classmates Chloe is compared to herself and thinks, "Like she had been formed by a god with an eye for detail, whereas Gemma had been slapped together haphazardly by a drunk." The implication is that man playing god in creating human beings in a lab is messy and haphazard in contrast to when God creates, he does it with beauty and perfection.

There's also a hint in the novel that perhaps there was more than just cloning going on at Haven when Lyra remembers seeing the rats in their cages with their "strangely human fingers." 


Overall Replica is a well written novel that holds reader's interest with its numerous twists and action sequences. Replica is the first book in Lauren Oliver's newest series. The next book will be titled Simulation which the author has stated will be more complicated.

Book Details:

Replica by Lauren Oliver (Laura Schechter)
New York: HarperCollins Children's Books     2016
519 pp.

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Cassandra Hobbes had been living with her mother, who tricked people into believing she was psychic. Until one day, five years ago when her mother disappeared, her blood spattered dressing room in shambles and empty. Her mother's body has never been found. Her father, Vincent Battaglia, is a United States Air Force man stationed halfway around the world so Cassie was taken by Social Services to live with her father's sister, her Aunt Tasha and Uncle Rio.


Cassie has an unusual ability to figure out people, what they like, how they think, and who they might be. This ability makes life interesting and comes in handy working at her family's restaurant. Until one day, a good-looking guy comes in for breakfast and leaves his business card for Cassie. That card is from Tanner Briggs, Special Agent FBI, with an invitation to call.

After debating whether or not to call the number, Cassie does so, thinking the call might be about her mother's disappearance. However, Briggs tells her that this is not about her mother and they arrange to meet in Denver where Cassie lives. There she meets Michael, the boy who visited her family's diner and Agent Briggs who tells her that they have a special interest in her because she has a natural aptitude for profiling people. Briggs asks Cassie to become part of this FBI program and move to Washington, DC, telling her that she will be working on crimes involving serial killers. Cassie agrees, partly motivated by the unsolved disappearance of her mother. With the permission of her father, Cassie moves to Quantico, Virginia and settles into the Naturals base, a Victorian-styled house. There she meets Special Agent Lacey Locke, a tall redhead who is also a profiler and who will train Cassie.

Retired marine, Judd Hawkins oversees the home and its FBI proteges who include Lia (who specializes in deception), Sloane (gifted in the area of numerics), Michael (who reads emotions) and Dean Redding (a profiler like Cassie). After a day of rest, Cassie begins her training with Locke and Dean who tell her that the unknown perpetrator of a crime is referred to as an UNSUB. When Cassie has trouble profiling, Locke tells her to put herself in the place of the person she is profiling and to think in terms of first person, "I". But Cassie, thinking back on the likely murder of her mother finds this difficult to do and so Dean tells her to think in terms of "YOU". This does give the reader a subtle hint as to the identity of the second narrator.

The unique character of all five teens makes for an interesting but volatile combination, creating tension between them, especially between Cassie, Michael and Dean. Cassie learns from Dean that his father was a serial killer who tortured and murdered nineteen women in a shed on their family property. Michael who seems to be attracted to Cassie, does whatever he can to discourage Cassie's interest in Dean, who doesn't seem to like Cassie.

Both Agent Briggs and Locke are called away to work on a special case resulting in a break in training. Sloane manages to steal a USB from Locke's briefcase, override the encryption and she, Cassie and Michael review the files on the drive. They learn that the UNSUB has killed seven people, four in DC in the past two weeks. After reviewing the files, Cassie comes to the conclusion that the UNSUB in these murders is killing women who have red hair and who work as psychics - that is they resemble Cassie's mother. Although the connection seems coincidental, Cassie is convinced that the UNSUB is escalating and sending them a message. But can Cassie convince Briggs and Locke to allow her to work on the case? More importantly, can they determine the identity of the serial killer before he strikes again, especially since it appears that Cassie is his next victim?

Discussion

The Naturals is very similar in concept to the TV series, Criminal Minds which focuses on the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI, an elite group of forensic profilers based who are called in on cases where the perpetrator is unknown and the crimes are of a serial nature and/or very violent. Many of the series episodes are based on real life crimes, although the real BAU does not become involved in the apprehension of suspects. Instead of elite profilers, The Naturals introduces us to a group of teens who are considered to have "natural" abilities to read people. These teens are somehow identified and then brought into this pilot program under the auspices of the FBI where they undergo training in mall courts and parking lots and are allowed, without much preparation to view files containing the details of the most violent crimes. The entire premise feels very implausible.

Characterization in The Naturals is very wooden and stereotypical; Michael is the rich kid, whom the FBI allows keep his Porsche, Dean is the brooding, dark offspring of a serial killer, Lia is an annoying, cloy, eavesdropping girl with an interest in Michael, while Sloane is the statistical phenom. There's plenty of tension among the five teens including a strange triangle that involves Michael, Dean and Cassie.

The storyline in The Naturals takes a twist in the last half, disappointingly predictable (there's never any doubt about the identity of the serial killer ), as well as somewhat ridiculous (a serial killer who embeds into the FBI and not just any part of the FBI but the BAU unit!!).  The fact that a group of teenagers is able to solve a serial crime, outdoing seasoned, highly trained FBI agents stretches believability and even more so considering one of the agents is taking time out on the job to murder.

This could have been a great story - one especially appealing to those who love murder mysteries but The Naturals with its great cover (the black gift box is part of the story and also a piece of evidence, hence the crime tape) just doesn't deliver. It's too contrived.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is professor of psychology, having studied cognitive science, psychology and psychiatry. 

Book Details:
The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
New York: Hyperion   2013
308 pp.

My Sister Lives On The Mantlepiece by Annabel Pitcher

Five years ago, Jamie's sister, Rose, was killed in a terrorist attack in London. Rose's twin sister, Jasmine (Jaz) survived as did the rest of the family but the tragedy has utterly devastated all of them. Jamie's parents fought over the remaining ten body parts of Rose, with his mother burying part of Rose in a cemetery while Jamie's father placed the ashes from Rose's body parts in an urn. Eventually, Jamie's mother left his dad for another man, Nigel, from the support group his mom was attending. His father now drinks and doesn't work. Jaz, tired of being dressed like her sister Rose for the past five years, arrived home on her fifteenth birthday with pink hair and a nose ring. She has developed an eating disorder as a result of the family stress.  And Jamie hasn't cried at all for Rose, a sister he barely remembers.

Jamie's father, unable to cope with the death of Rose and the break up of his marriage moves the family to the Lake District where he believes there are no Muslims and the English way of life is still possible. They live in a ramshackle cottage in Ambleside where Jamie attends the Ambleside Church of England Primary School.

 But things are no better for Jamie and Jaz at Ambleside as their father spirals downwards, often drunk and unable to care for them.  The urn holding Rose's ashes is sacred and Rose literally "lives" on the mantlepiece as their dad talks to the ashes and even puts a piece of Jamie's birthday cake next to it.

At his new school, Jamie is tormented by Daniel, the teacher's pet and class bully. There is however one redeeming aspect of his life in Ambleside Primary School and that is the friendship he develops with Sunya, a Muslim girl who wears a hajib. 

Like Jamie, Sunya is an outsider who is also taunted by Daniel and the other children. Sunya encourages Jamie to be strong and when he wears his Spiderman T-shirt to school she tells him she is also a superhero, Girl M. Unlike Jamie though, who tends to cower when confronted, Sunya gets revenge on Daniel, in her own time and on her own terms, often in very humorous ways.

Jamie is extremely conflicted over his friendship with Sunya who acts as a foil to Jamie's racist father. While Jamie's father talks about Muslims making bombs and killing people, Jamie knows that few Muslims behave like this and certainly not ten-year-old Muslim girls. Despite this, Jamie struggles because he feels that he is betraying his father and so sometimes he is not a good friend to Sunya. But it is Sunya whom Jamie opens up to, telling her about his family and how his sister was killed by in an Islamic terrorist bombing.

Jamie also struggles with his father's expectations of how he should grieve over Rose. Jamie was very young when Rose died and he doesn't really remember his sister. As a result, he hasn't cried at all over her death, something his father finds strange. Instead, Jamie is more concerned about fitting in at school, being strong and confident like a superhero and his cat Roger. Sunya is the first person Jamie confides in about not missing Rose.

Eventually things become so dysfunctional in their family that Jamie and Jaz decide to enter a talent contest in the hopes of bringing their parents back together. Missing their mother who has completely abandoned them, they hope that their mother will understand their predicament. It is this trip plus a second tragedy that helps set the family on the path to healing.

Discussion

My Sister Lives On The Mantlepiece is a brilliant piece of writing, that engages the reader fully, capturing the loss, hurt and confusion a young boy experiences as a result of a family tragedy. These feelings never totally overwhelm the reader however, because of the wonderful comic relief that Pitcher incorporates throughout her novel. Despite the terribly sad circumstances of Jamie's family, many parts of the novel are quite funny. Jamie struggles to come to terms with many losses in his young life; the loss of a sister he doesn't really remember, the total abandonment of his mother, and the loss of care by his father. But his narration is witty and believable, allowing the reader to identify and sympathize with him.

The novel's greatest strength are the incredible relationships that Pitcher develops between several characters; Jamie and Sunya, and Jamie and Jaz. Jamie and Sunya form a  true friendship, with Sunya making Jamie feel safe enough to talk to her about the death of his sister. Abandoned by both of their parents emotionally and their mother physically, Jamie and Jaz work together, helping each other to cope with an almost impossible situation.

The one glaring drawback in this novel is that almost very adult in the story is nasty. Jamie's parents are irresponsible and self absorbed, Mrs. Farmer and the headmaster are clueless and even the talent show hosts are ignorant and rude. The only adult who is friendly and caring is Sunya's mother. Irresponsible uncaring and badly behaving adult characters are often a feature of young adult fiction.

In spite of this, My Sister Lives On The Mantlepiece is well-written and deeply moving. The novel offers young readers the opportunity to consider the effects of terrorist acts which continue to be a part of life in many parts of the world. This is author Annabel Pitcher's debut novel and was first published in the UK in 2011.

Book Details:
My Sister Lives On The Mantlepiece by Annabel Pitcher
New York: Little, Brown & Company     2012
214 pp.