The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer Smith

One September day before the start of school, the power in New York City and throughout the eastern seaboard of the United States goes out. Moments before, Lucy Patterson had just made the elevator, pushing the door open to rush inside. When the elevator comes to a grinding halt, Lucy and the new boy, who'd only moved into the basement apartment a month ago with his father, the new superintendent, are left completely in the dark. They do not know how extensive the blackout is, believing it is only a problem in their building.

As they wait to be rescued, Lucy learns the boy's name is Owen Buckley and that he's not taken a liking to New York. Owen and his father moved to New York after the death of his mother. Her death made living in their home in Pennsylvania too painful and after being out of work for a year, as a contractor, Owen's father was given a job as the building superintendent in New York.

Both teens are on their own; Owen's father has gone out to Brooklyn on a personal errand and Lucy's parents are away in London, England. Lucy and Owen bide their time in the dark elevator, talking about life in New York City and how they view the city in a different way, she a native New Yorker, he a newcomer.

Eventually, they are rescued from the elevator, only to discover that the entire city and seaboard is without power. Initially, Owen and Lucy go their separate ways but Owen reconsiders and follows her up to her apartment, 24D. They get a flashlight and go down to the street to find water and ice cream. Since Owen has a key to the roof of their building, he and Lucy decide to spend the night up there. Owen learns that Lucy is often left alone by her parents who seem to be always traveling to "amazing places". Her father works for a British bank and they travel frequently. They always send Lucy a postcard from whatever city they are visiting.  Owen notes that Lucy seems sad about her parent's absence and they joke about how postcards always say "Wish you were here." when really if people did feel that way, they would have invited the person along. They spend the night talking about family, travel and life in general.

When morning comes, Lucy finds herself alone on the roof. Owen meanwhile has gone back to the apartment worried about his father, who was stuck in Brooklyn the previous day.  He finds his father in the apartment lobby suffering from heat exhaustion after having walked all the way home and spends the next day taking care of him. Because of his father's absence, the apartment building which is owned by his father's second cousin, Sam Coleman, was not taken care of properly during the blackout. Coleman warns Owen that if his father doesn't do his job he will lose it. Which is exactly what happens. As a result, Owen and his father set out on a journey that takes them across America. His father is in search of both a job and an escape from the memories of his wife.

Lucy searches for Owen but doesn't find him. When the blackout ends, her parents contact her and book her a flight to London. When she arrives, Lucy learns that her father is trying for a job at a bank in London and that they will not be moving back to New York. While in London, Lucy sends Owen a postcard with "Wishing You Were Here" embossed on the front and writing "I actually do." on the back. Owen in New York, also sends Lucy the same kind of postcard with the same message.

A few weeks later they both meet up unexpectedly in New York. Both Lucy and Owen reveal to one another that they will be leaving New York City - Lucy to London, and Owen to wherever his father can find a new job. Although they promise to keep in touch via postcards, Owen and Lucy must decide whether their relationship is something that will survive the turmoil of the next year.

The Geography of You and Me chronicles Lucy and Owen's attempts to continue their relationship against the backdrop of the enormous changes both of their families experience throughout the coming year. Readers will love the romantic tension Jennifer Smith creates throughout the novel and the somewhat inconclusive but realistic ending. It would be interesting to meet Lucy and Owen five years into the future to see how their lives and their relationship have unfolded.

Smith tells Owen and Lucy's stories in alternating narratives, which often include parallel actions and thoughts in both characters lives even though they are separated by geography and time. This tends to lend a sense of destiny to their relationship which is rather endearing and romantic.Owen's narrative focuses on how he and his father try to come to terms with the loss of their mother/wife. I wondered how realistic it was for Owen to have missed most of his senior year yet still be able to graduate and get accepted at six colleges. Lucy's narrative deals more with her life changing from that of an outsider in New York, to finding her niche in a new place. "In New York, she'd stood apart, and in Edinburgh, she'd stood out; but here, she just stood alongside everyone else, and there was comfort in that, in fitting in for once."

If this novel has one weakness, it's that Smith fails to convey to her readers the chemistry that Lucy and Owen seem to feel towards each other. Their initial meeting doesn't really provide readers with an understanding of why these two people are attracted to each other - other than maybe both are lonely. After their third disastrous meeting, it seems like all is over. Yet something in both Owen and Lucy leads them to break off with their current partner, in the hope of rediscovering what attracts them to one another. Unfortunately, it's all a bit of a mystery that is never quite revealed to the reader and that even the characters themselves don't quite understand. Perhaps that is what is so baffling about love.

Those who enjoy a light, contemporary romance will want to read The Geography of You and Me. Jennifer E. Smith has a masters in creative writing and is the author of several popular young adult novels including This Is What Happy Looks Like.

Book Details:
The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer Smith
New York: Little, Brown and Company    2014
337 pp.

Movie Review: The Fault in Our Stars

The movie adaptation of John Green's blockbuster novel of the same name, will leave theatre-goers and fans of The Fault In Our Stars, weepy but overall, very satisfied. Shailene Woodley stars as Hazel Grace Lancaster and Ansel Elgort as Augustus Waters, two star-crossed teens who both have cancer and who meet at a cancer support group. Dispensing with conventional views about young people with cancer, they are determined to live and love despite the life they've been handed. When Gus reads a novel, The Imperial Affliction, that Hazel gives him, he becomes determined to learn what really happened to the characters after the book's hanging ending. Hazel is shocked to learn that Gus's emails to the author, Peter Van Houten are returned and they are invited to come to Amsterdam to meet him and to talk about the book.


During the time that they have read the novel, made arrangements to travel to Amsterdam and are in the midst of supporting their friend, Isaac who loses both his remaining eye to cancer and his girlfriend, Gus finds himself falling in love with Hazel. But Hazel doesn't want Gus to love her because she feels she is like a grenade, about to explode and obliterate everyone's life with her eventual death. All this does not matter to Gus, who believes he is destined to live a remarkable life. However, a remarkable life will not be Gus's destiny. The trip to Amsterdam while not providing the answers they were hoping for, results in Hazel and Gus falling in love. Hazel begins to realize that this is the only life they get and they have to make the most of it, whatever it might be.

Shailene Woodley gives an emotionally riveting performance as Hazel and is well supported by Elgort as Gus, by Laura Dern as Frannie and Sam Trammell as Michael, Hazel's warm, supportive parents. But each of these actor's performances are also exceptional. The chemistry between Woodley and Elgort is surprisingly effective; their relationships comes across as warm, funny and romantic - very believable. But this movie also manages to capture some of the heartbreak, the terror and the pain that goes with cancer. Just as an example, when Hazel receives an email and calls her mother, her mom tears into her bedroom, fearing the worst. Her response seems over the top, but it's not for the parent of a child, chronically and terminally ill.

Fans of the novel will recognize that for the most part, the movie is true to the novel. The film was shot in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Amsterdam. Anne Frank's house was not used for the scenes in the house, only the entrance was used.

The only part of this movie I felt bordered on ridiculous was the portrayal of a cancer therapy group, in particular one that addressed spirituality. In The Fault in Our Stars, the cancer group Hazel and Gus attend is run in a Protestant church by a thirty-something man, who plays the guitar and who has hooked a rug of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - a solely Catholic image used to portray the mercy of God. The cancer support counselor was made to look like an absolute idiot, who has nothing to offer these young people, except some little ditties about resting in the heart of Jesus. Behind all of this is the hint of the senselessness (and hopelessness) of cancer, the suffering and perhaps even prayer. There is no magical theological explanation about the why of cancer; why some get it and live, why others get it and die, or why some never get it at all. It happens, just like bad things happen to good people, and we make the best of them. We help each other along that journey. And yes, we might also pray - a fact that even the National Cancer Institute recognizes. The NCI on its website indicates that studies show that patients whose spiritual issues are addressed either by their doctors or by support groups do better.

Once the movie moved past this point, it was on more solid ground exploring how young people struggle to cope with a serious illness like cancer, how they are viewed by others and how those around those around them, parents and friends, try to come to terms with illness in young lives. For example, Isaac's girlfriend dumps him before his eye surgery because she can't cope with him going blind, ignoring how traumatizing this might be for Isaac. This sort of insensitivity is common in many events in life, whether it be women suffering from a miscarriage or the loss of a child. It's that continual worry that something terrible is about to happen all over again.

Overall The Fault In Our Stars is a touching movie that will make viewers think a bit more deeply about the reality of young people who suffer from chronic health issues and how we often make illness a barrier to one another. The stellar performance by Woodley in particular, will prod those who haven't yet read the novel, to do so.

Below is the trailer for the movie:

Willow by Tonya Cherie Hegamin

Set in Maryland, on the fictitious Knotwild Plantation in 1848, Willow tells the story of a fifteen year old slave, Willow, who must decide between the life her father and master choose for her or to run away to freedom and an unknown future with a young black, freeborn man she barely knows.

Willow's mama died when she was young and her Granmam died last year, leaving Willow with just her Papa. She sits by her mother's grave located just near the Mason and Dixon line, the line between slavery in Maryland and freedom in Pennsylvania. Under the old willow tree next to her mama's grave, Willow writes letters to her mama about her life now. The letters are written in an old copybook with one of Rev Jeff's grease pencils.

Rev Jefferson Jeffries, the master of Knotwild Plantation lost his baby daughter and wife in a fire while visiting family in Pennsylvania before Willow was born. He and Willow's Papa, Ryder, have worked together on Knotwild all their lives. Willow is considered part of Rev Jeff's family; her birth is even recorded in the family's bible. Like Rev Jeff, Ryder also lost his wife, but he still has Willow, whom he loves dearly and is determined will inherit Knotwild.

Lately her father's been talking about marriage and how it's her duty, responsibility and her station to get married and have a family. Although Willow wants to be married, she desires other things in life too. Willow wants to go to school, study literature. She was taught to read the bible, but her desire to read other books has lead her to read parts of Shakespeare.

Then one misty morning, Willow's life is forever changed by a chance sighting of a young black man across the river. He waves to Willow but she flees on her horse, Mayapple.

The man Willow sees is Cato Freeman, from Haven, Pennsylvania. He has traveled south to help slaves fleeing the south, to guide them to freedom. Unfortunately, trouble befalls Cato when he steps into a rabbit hole and breaks his ankle. While the slave he helps travels onward to freedom, Cato is forced to remain hidden in the woods until his ankle heals.

When Cato accidentally discovers Willow's copybook, he is enthralled by the beautiful writing and even more so by the mysterious writer. He learns through Willow's letters to her mama about her predicament of being forced to marry Raymond, a cruel slave from the neighbouring Merriend plantation and this leads Cato to write messages to Willow.

Cato suggests that love done out of obligation is not true love, especially when it condemns a person to a life of bondage or slavery. He encourages Willow to leave Knotwild and seek freedom with him. However, Willow feels she cannot abandon her father. But as Rev Jeff and her father make arrangements for her to marry a man she does not love, and as it becomes increasingly apparent that the woman Rev Jim is about to marry will change life forever at Knotwild, Willow must determine the meaning of love and make a difficult choice.

Discussion

Tonya Cherie Hegamin has crafted a beautifully nuanced coming-of-age story interwoven with many interconnected themes of identity, the right to self-determination, loyalty and love. In particular, she connects together the issues of slavery and the emancipation of women, demonstrating the parallel thinking that existed during this era regarding rights for blacks and women. For example, when Willow's father, Ryder, is trying to justify his actions forcing Willow to marry,

"Shut up, boy. Why you think God made us the stronger sex? Women's minds and bodies are weak. They need us to put them right."

Cato counters:

"Ain't that the same thing masters say about us? How they justify slavery?"

Hegamin effectively captures the mindset of slaves in 1848 through the character Ryder; some were grateful to their masters for feeding and clothing them, others felt they were saved from a heathen existence. In contrast to Ryder, is the character of Cato, a freeborn black man who lives in hope and dignity, a somewhat idealistic person who still believes in the goodness of all men.

Willow is a strong, intelligent protagonist, struggling with her internal conflict of desiring to be educated, to be free to determine her own life with her duty to her father and the notion of accepting one's station in life that was common to this era for both slaves AND women. Unlike many slaves, Willow can read and write and she has the desire to learn more.

Hegamin, on her website states that she attempts to "interpret human nature through writing". She also states that "I like the phrase “Translating the Imagination”– stories that make meaningful connection between writer and reader imaginations, ultimately cultivating compassionate understanding." Willow accomplishes this, placing her readers firmly in 1848 America, where black men were free but not, where masters could travel to Haven and re-possess their escaped "property" and where any black man, even a freeman could be captured and enslaved.

Willow has a lovely watercolour painting by E.B. Lewis on the book jacket, showing the first meeting between Willow and Cato in the early morning, near the willow tree. Lewis is renowned for his beautiful illustrations in children's books. More about this artist and his watercolours can be found at his website, eblewis.com

Book Details:
Willow by Tonya Cherie Hegamin
Somerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, 2014
374 pp.

The Hunt by Stacey Kade

The Hunt continues the saga of Ariane's attempts to extricate herself from GTX, the sinister research organization that created her.  Ariane is an alien-human hybrid, created using human DNA and DNA from the alien found at Roswell in 1947.

Ariane's adoptive father, Mark Tucker,  helped her escape and now she and Zane need to figure out what to do next. They are planning to travel to Zane's mother's home in Chicago. After retrieving a duffelbag from beneath the dumpster, it's contents reveal more surprises. There are Canadian and US passports for a Talia Torv as well as a large amount of cash and a letter from her father, Mark. The bag also contains clothing and the keys to an older model car.

The letter reveals that Ariane has a tracking chip embedded in her neck which can be inactivated by a magnet. But more importantly Mark's letter also reveals several things; that Ariane was never free from GTX but was allowed to live outside the research lab and that she needs to cut ties to Wingate. She also learns that the other labs who are in a battle to win a lucrative government contract to create supersoldiers are out to kill her. There is to be a trial or fight to the death between the three supersoldiers created by Dr. Jacobs of GTX, David Laughlin of Laughlin Integrated Enterprises and Emerson St. John of Emerson Technology. Her father warns her that corporate espionage between all three companies means that Ariane's escape will not go unnoticed for very long. Although her father tells her to try to leave the United States, it soon becomes apparent that this will not be possible.

Zane and Ariane locate a late model van that Ariane's father had hidden for her in a storage center. They travel to his mother's home where Ariane makes the discovery that Zane's mother is the lab technician, Mara, who cared for her and treated her kindly. Zane's mother is confused and frightened when she meets Ariane, mistaking her for another human-alien hybrid known as Ford. Zane and Ariane learn that David Laughlin has three hybrids named Nixon, Ford and Carter. Zane's mother unknowingly became involved with Laughlin Enterprises when she moved to Chicago after her marriage with Zane's dad collapsed,  to take an office job. Laughlin honed in on Mara's experience at GTX and drew her into his research. Mara now works with Laughlin's hybrids, trying to find "the balance between independent thought and obedience, between humanity and all the accelerated benefits of your ...other people." Mara tells Ariane that the Laughlin hybrids seem to thrive as a communal cell rather than as individuals. The Laughlin hybrids were raised without caregivers and are not able to relate to humans. As a result, Ford hates humans. Ariane learns also that the hybrids have been sent to school.

Mara warns Ariane to return to Wingate where she will be protected by GTX from Laughlin and also the hybrids. However Zane and Ariane decide against this and instead learn from Mara where the hybrids are attending school. Ariane intends to seek out the hybrids and try to convince them to work with her to obtain their freedom. But when she and Zane manage to meet them at Linwood Academy, they realize that what Mara has told them is true; the three hybrids move together as though they are a single entity, led by Ford. They also see why Mara mistook Ariane for Ford, as they look identical.

Ariane proposes that they work together to obtain their freedom. Ariane knows that if she can free Ford, Nixon and Carter, the trials won't take place. However, Ford tells them that they will not help her unless she obtains a supply of the enzyme, Quorosene, which is being withheld from them unless they cooperate.

When Ariane and Zane return to Mara's home, they learn that Quinn has been kidnapped by Dr. Jacobs and is being used as a way to lure Ariane back to GTX. However, Ariane believes that if she turns herself into Dr. Jacobs, Quinn AND Zane will never be safe because Jacobs knows that she cares for Zane.

All of this makes Ariane determined to obtain the Quorosene and end the experimentation on the alien hybrids. With time running out,she devises a plan that hopefully will save both Ford and Quinn. But when Zane intervenes with the best of intentions, Ariane must change her own game plan.

The Hunt manages, in the last half of the novel, to live up to the promise of the first novel, The Rules. Readers might find the middle of this novel drags, as Kade focuses on the blossoming physical attraction between Zane and Ariane while slowly continuing to advance the storyline about the hunt and possible recapture of Ariane. At times the relationship takes over the story, when all the reader wants is to learn how Ariane will get away from GTX. The author also spends considerable time developing the backstory behind Zane, his relationship with his brother and the abusive relationship with his father. This allows us to understand the motivations behind Zane's actions later in the novel.

The last eight chapters are very exciting with several unexpected twists that lead to a cliffhanger ending and provide and excellent segue into the final novel in this trilogy.

The Hunt incorporates the requisite themes of identity, human experimentation, and the right to be free. Ariane never asked to be created but now that she exists she has a right to live her life the way she chooses and not to be subjected to experimentation and captivity. Although she is part alien, she is also human and therefore has human rights.

Overall, The Hunt delivers what readers expected based on the first novel. It's unfortunate that it the reading is marred by poor editing, with several typographic errors as well as general slips such as referring to Ariane as Ari.

Book Details:
The Hunt by Stacey Kade
New York: Hyperion        2014
359 pp.

Deception's Princess by Esther Friesner

Set in Ireland (Eriu) during the Iron Age, Deception's Princess tells the story of Maeve, daughter of the King of Connacht. Eleven year old Maeve is the youngest of the King Eochu's six daughters and high-spirited.

Maeve lives within the ringfort of Cruachan, with her parents, Lady Clithfinn, King Eochu and her sisters, Derbriu, Clothru, Mugain, and twins Eithne and Eile. The stone entryway to Cruachan is framed with the severed heads of warriors who had fallen in battle to the king. The most recent trophy is the head of the High King of Eriu, Fachtna Fathach, who betrayed King Eochu and paid the price with his life.

Now that her father is High King, life changes dramatically for Maeve and her sisters. Her sisters are sent out to fosterage, a custom where highborn children are sent into other homes to learn skills that will prepare them for life as adults. However, Maeve is not sent because she is King Eochu's most favoured daughter. This came about becuase of what happened when she was a mere five years old. At that young age, Maeve demonstrated her courage and boldness by going out and cutting off the tail of her father's largest black bull, Dubh. King Eochu considers Maeve to be the son he does not have and  he decides to keep her at home.

Being left at home however, causes Maeve to despair. In her loneliness she takes long walks throughout the countryside. During one of these walks, she is saved from a wolf by Kelan, a fosterling boy at Cruachan. Soon Kelan and Maeve form a friendship that sees Kelan reluctantly agree to teach Maeve the art of sword fighting and other warrior skills. However, Maeve's skill is discovered when she is forced to defend herself during an attack by a wolfhound. Instead of being proud of her, King Eochu's is enraged that someone taught his daughter to be like a man. Several days later,  Kelan is murdered in a challenge by one of her father's men, Cailte.

Shortly after this, a druid priest Master Iobar and his son Odran arrive at Cruachan. Druid priests were to be given great respect and treated well. So when they arrive at the ringfort, King Eochu welcomes them with great honour.

Odran is a strange young man who keeps a fox around his neck and a stoat (a weasel) hidden in his clothing. Maeve discovers that Odran is a sensitive kind boy who loves animals and who wishes to care for them. But Odran does not get along with his father. Maeve and Odran develop a secret friendship that sees Odran teach Maeve how to care for animals. One of those animals turns out to be a kestrel whom they name Ea.

However, their friendship is not to last as Odran's father, Master Iobar, attempts to betroth Princess Maeve to Odran, against both Maeve and the King's wishes. From this point on, Maeve's life rapidly changes. Her mother gives birth to triplet boys, who will now inherit King Eochu's land, making Maeve a dead end to the high seat of Connacht. But in a ploy to remove King Eochu, one of his enemies, Lord Morann imprisons the king's bard, Devnet, and requests Maeve to be sent as a fosterling to Fir Domnann,  in exchange for the life of the bard.  King Eochu suspects that Morann's true intentions are to marry Maeve to Conchobar, the surviving son of Fachtna Fathach, in the hopes that they can gain lordship over Connacht.

Determined to meet Morann before he arrives at Cruachan, Maeve secretly leaves the ringfort. She wants to meet him on her terms and secure the Devnet's release without giving herself up. Eventually she does meet up with one group of her father's men who have been sent to find her. She also discover's Morann's camp. Can Maeve save herself and her father's rule, despite the terrible secret she's uncovered?


For historical fiction fans, Friesner has crafted another interesting and unique novel that is in her own words a mashup of myth and fiction. There was no Princess Maeve of Ireland, but there were undoubtedly strong, capable young women in Iron Age Ireland.

It`s a challenge designing a cover that is both appealing and accurate for teen historical fiction. The model on the cover of Deception`s Princess, with her mass of wavy, red hair and the style of dress, is reminiscent of Merida from the animated movie, Brave. While the cover for Deception's Princess is quite attractive, it is not historically accurate for Iron Age (Celtic) Ireland. Men commonly wore a tunic and trousers, while women wore dresses or long tunics fastened with brooches, not the more medieval dress pictured on the book jacket. As Friesner mentions throughout the novel, important members of tribes often wore torcs (torques) made of gold, silver or iron which the cover does not show.

Nevertheless,  Deception's Princess succeeds as a historical novel because it gives readers a good idea of family life and how society was structured in Ireland during the Iron Age.Not much is known about the Iron Age in Ireland but despite this, Friesner creates a believable setting for her story. Ireland was never invaded by the Romans and so much of its historical record begins with the coming of Christianity.  For example, little is known about the druid priests and their actual rituals in Ireland except that they had a high social status and that they could call down curses upon both kings and common folk alike. During the Iron Age, the people of Ireland were organized into clans but there was no real ruler over all of Ireland. Farming and hunting were the primary means of survival and wealthy men owned many head of cattle and also horses. Bards who sang of the events in the lives of these people, were highly esteemed. Friesner portrays all of this, giving her readers a strong sense of the Iron Age period. The map of Ireland at the front of the novel helps readers understand the geography of the setting and at the back of the novel is an interesting guide to pronouncing the different Celtic names.

The unusual time period alone makes Deception`s Princess an intriguing tale that is furthered by Friesner`s creation of a well developed female protagonist and several strong supporting characters. Maeve is physically capable, kind-hearted, brave and intelligent. She's also impulsive and a bit self-absorbed at the beginning of the novel. She doesn't want to be a fosterling. She doesn`t want to be married. However as a favoured daughter, she accepts (although reluctantly at first) that she will be married to a warrior from another tribe, cementing his allegiance to her father. As Maeve matures, she comes to see this as practical and necessary.

It was good to see the author develop her character in a way that was probably realistic for the time period. There is a tendency in modern historical novels to portray young women as going against the gender norm of their culture and time period. While this appeals to modern readers, it is not always historically accurate and the sense of the era is then lost. This doesn't happen in Deception's Princess. For example,  even though Maeve goes against Master Iobar when he tries to marry her to his son, she does so in a way that is entirely plausible. She couches her refusal in terms of her personal responsibility towards her father, the High King. The saving grace for Friesner is that very little is known about Iron Age Ireland, allowing for some historical license and the blending of myth and fiction.

Although the novel drags a bit in the middle section, when Maeve and Odran are involved in their work to save injured animals, readers are rewarded with an interesting and very satisfying conclusion.

As with her other novels, Friesner plans a sequel, to be titled Deception's Prize. Look for the return of Odran and more about her three younger brothers,Bres, Nar and Lothar who now stand to "inherit the lordship of his lands".

Book Details:
Deception's Princess by Esther Friesner
New York: Random House    2014
324 pp.

Unforgotten by Jessica Brody

Unforgotten picks up Sera and Zen's story after they have transessed to the year 1609 in England to escape her pursuers from Diotech, the organization that is determined to re-capture her. They have found refuge with John and Elizabeth Pattinson and their family, who run a farm. Mrs. Pattinson and the farm animals do not like her, sensing that there is something different about Sera. Her violet eyes are disturbing to Elizabeth and when she sees the black line tattoo on Sera's wrist, she is certain it is the mark of Satan.

Their cover in 1609 is blown when Sera and Zen take the apple harvest to town and Zen falls deathly ill. He is hit by a wagon and horse in town and Sera uses her special physical abilities of superior strength and speed to save him from being crushed. When the villagers witness this display, they capture Sera, imprison and try her for witchcraft and burn her at the stake. However, as she is being burned to death, Sera is rescued.

When she awakens, Sera discovers that her legs have healed from the burns and that she is being held captive. She meets Kaelen, a genetically designed person just like her, who tells her that he has been sent by Diotech to retrieve the information that they need. Kaelen tells Sera that the information is stored in her unaccessed memories known as TDRs or time-delayed recalls. These are memories that were installed in Sera's brain and programmed to activate by a specific trigger.

Not realizing that Kaelen is genetically superior, Sera attempts to escape but it unable to physically overcome Kaelen. Kaelen reveals to Sera that his one purpose is to serve Dr. Jans Alixter and to protect the interests of Diotech. Kaelen has Sera's locket which means she cannot transesse back to 1069 to get Zen. She learns that Kaelen knows what is wrong with Zen and how to save him. Sera agrees to help Kaelen find the information he needs through her memories if he goes back to retrieve Zen. Kaelen does this and brings a desperately ill Zen back to the house where she is being kept.

Kaelen tells Sera that she is now in New York city in the year 2032. Kaelen brought her to this year because this is what her memory dictated. As she and Kaelen experience her first memory, a second memory happens leading them to the next clue. However, Sera is horrified to discover that Kaelen can access her memories with his touch. She manages to conceal the third memory from Kaelen and disables him with the Modifier. Returning to the house, Sera takes Zen and travels to the GenZone Research Laboratory where she meets up with Cody Carlson - the boy she met in 2013. Cody, in 2032, is now a thirty-two year old research scientist, married with a child named Reese.

Using a special technology, Sera allows Cody to learn about how she was created and about the transession gene. Cody discovers that the transession gene is what is making Zen sick. His body is treating it as a virus and attacking it. The gene cannot be removed by any living scientist, but Sera knows who CAN remove it - Dr. Rylan Maxxer who is alive eighty-three years into the future. Cody further deduces that Maxxer is also on the run from Diotech. Sera believes that Maxxer is the one who implanted a memory of her secret location in Sera's brain and that this location is what Diotech is seeking. Cody suspects the reason Diotech is searching for Dr. Maxxer is because someone else is also ill from the transession gene. When Kaelen reappears, having tracked Sera to Cody's lab, she confronts him with the real reason for his mission - to locate and bring the antidote to the transession gene to Dr. Alixter. Can Sera find Dr. Maxxer in time to save Zen, while outwitting Diotech's Kaelen who is determined to bring the antidote to Alixter?

Discussion

Unforgotten is a much more interesting novel than its predecessor, Unremembered. Brody does several things in this novel; she furthers our understanding of the web of intrigue that Sera and Zen are caught in, she continues to develop her characters and she creates a bridge into the final novel of the series.

Brody builds the science in her world from 2013 onwards. This is filled in by the character of Dr. Maxxer who has to explain to Seraphina why she had fled her time and how she has transessed through various time periods to determine exactly what is going on. It turns out that a mysterious group of influential people known as the Providence has been in control of global politics and economics for decades. Genetic manipulation begun in the early 21st century will continue until people rise up against it. In 2032, an outbreak of white fever will be released by Providence. It is a dangerous virus capable of wiping out humanity, but the Providence will not allow that. Instead, they will provide a vaccine which will cure white fever but genetically modify everyone, making them susceptible to other less serious ailments. This will enable the pharmaceutical companies to sell more drugs and vaccines. However, when people begin rebelling against the pharmaceutical companies, the Providence will decide on a different tactic. They invest in an unknown start-up biotech company known as Diotech. Diotech is moved to a remote location and the Genesis Project is developed to create perfect human beings such as Sera and Kaelen. This technology will be marketed to people as a way to be smarter, younger, more beautiful, but it will come with an unknown effect. Nanotechnology will be used to control people, programming them to respond in certain ways and allowing a group of people to control all of humanity.

This is an interesting concept that takes in the current debate about vaccines, biotechnology, nanotechnology and genetic manipulation. How far should scientists go when it comes to genetic engineering? Can vaccines be used to fundamentally change the human body? Just because we can do certain things in the field of medicine, does this mean we ought to? Brody plays to our deepest fears and suspicions about modern science - that it might be used not for good but as a weapon against humanity.

Another dominant theme is that of identity as Sera struggles to come to terms with the fact that she was created as a selling point for new biotechnology. This new technology has the potential to do great evil. Sera is angry that she never had a choice in how she was created or how she is able to live her life. Instead, every aspect of her life seems to be predetermined by genetic manipulation including who she is attracted to. This makes Sera convinced that she must destroy Diotech before they can implement their plan.

Overall, Unforgotten is a good read, well paced with a strong, linear storyline. Brody builds her future world enough to move the plot along and create a crisis that extends into the final novel. Fans of Scott Westerfeld's, Uglies, and Mary Pearson's, Adoration of Jenna Fox, will enjoy this series. There is a love triangle in the novel, which serves as a distraction to the overall theme and issues Brody wants her readers to consider. The third book in the Unremembered series will be published in 2015.

Book Details:
Unforgotten by Jessica Brody
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux    2014
399 pp.

Paige Rewritten by Erynn Mangum

Book Two in the Paige Alder series sees Paige dealing with interest from two young men while trying to decide if she should take a job at her church as a youth minister. Complicating this is the return of her younger sister, Preslee, who ran away from home years ago to live with her rocker boyfriend.

Although Paige has now managed to learn to say no to people in her life, so that at least she can have decent mealtimes and take time to relax and pray, her life still seems disorganized.

Luke Prestwick, the brother of her best friend Layla, is back in town and determined to restart his relationship with Paige. He strong-arms a lonely Paige into dinner on her birthday and then continues to show up on Saturday mornings bringing breakfast with him, even when Paige seems less than friendly.  Luke has all the trappings of success; a good job, his own apartment, is well dressed and immaculately groomed. Even more amazing, he has come back to the church.

Meanwhile her relationship with Tyler Jennings isn't faring much better. Tyler, whom Paige really likes, seems cautious and approaches their relationship as if Paige is made of glass. This makes Paige doubt whether Tyler is anything more than just a friend. However, as Tyler begins to ask Paige out to dinner and lunch more frequently, Paige begins to wonder about her own feelings towards him. His easy-going nature and quiet confidence are in contrast to Luke's more forward approach.

Added to this is Paige's jealousy over the return of her prodigal sister, Preslee, who has managed to turn her life around, become Christian and is engaged to Wes, the son of a minister and owner of his own realty company. Paige's feelings are understandable given that she was the one left to comfort their parents when Preslee vanished years ago. While Paige obeyed the rules and did what she was supposed to, Preslee went off and made plenty of mistakes and seemingly got rewarded for her disobedience and her rash ways.

I stayed. I was here. I was the one who followed all the rules, heard all the complaints, and dealt with the aftermath of Preslee's behavior. It was me who held Mom the years that Preslees hadn't even bothered to call on Christmas or Mother's Day.

Paige is now being asked to welcome Preslee back into the family, to rejoice at her upcoming marriage and her good fortune. It's a bitter pill for her to swallow despite the fact that she knows it's the right course.

Can Paige find the maturity to sort through her feelings about Preslee, can she discover what she truly feels about Luke and Tyler to choose between them and can she make a decision about whether or not to accept a job offer from Rick? There's plenty of opportunity for growth in Paige Alder's complicated life.

Paige Rewritten is mainly a story about a young woman's struggle towards adult maturity and the ability to take charge of her life. As a result, Mangum has not written a strong female lead character who knows her mind. Instead in this second novel, Paige Adler is presented as a fairly immature twenty-three year old who is somewhat of a pushover which is frustrating for readers. She doesn't seem to have learned much from her experiences in the first novel and hasn't applied it to any other areas of her life.  In the first novel she was a pushover for just about anyone - saying yes to anyone who asked her to do something. In the second novel, she struggles with the three most important relationships in her life, that of Tyler, Luke and Preslee.

Luke, the boy who left her five years ago is back and Paige simply watches as he waltzes into her life every Saturday morning with food, which seems to be the ticket to Paige's heart (and brain). Incapable of setting some firm boundaries from the beginning and telling Luke that they cannot simply pick up their relationship as if nothing happened, that she is interested in someone else, she does very little to discourage his behaviour. Part of this is the result of Paige not having worked through what happened between her and Luke, leaving her deeply conflicted. What Paige eventually discovers about herself is that she needs to forgive Luke, allowing them both to move on.

Luke is smooth, suave and polished on the surface but his actions and words make him seem insincere and creepy, especially in how he moves a few doors down from Paige, begins attending the same church as she does, and shows up unannounced at her apartment door on Saturday mornings. He does what he needs to, in order to attract Paige's attention again and admits as much; "I want you Paige. I want you back in my life. I've changed, I swear I have. I'm back at church, back reading my Bible, back to trying to walking with God." It's evident that Luke wants Paige's forgiveness, in fact, he apologizes to her many times. But Paige is not ready to hear him nor to forgive him. For her the relationship is over, but for Luke, it is not, leading to the shocking twist at the end.

In contrast to Luke, is the patient and kind Tyler, who seems to respect Paige's uncertainty. He's willing to take the time to establish trust and to honour her heart. Maybe he's not too sure yet either, but Tyler's willing to safeguard her heart before he moves too far, too fast.

A great strength of this novel is the theme regarding life in general and the idea that a person can live their life in a righteous way, as Paige has done, but this is no guarantee for happiness or success. Bad things happen to good people and plenty of good things happen to people who have behaved badly. Sometimes this realization can lead to jealousy like what Paige experiences. The difficulty is in working through those feelings and coming to the realization that God has a plan for each of us (even when things don't go according to plan) and that our plan is unique. It takes Paige some time before she realizes that her sister Preslee overcame some bad choices and had to work hard to recover her life. Paige also realizes that although she did not make the mistakes Preslee did, she nurtured pride in her heart that she was a better person than her sister and that this hardened her heart towards her sister.

It's not surprising then that the theme of forgiveness is dominant in Paige Rewritten - hence the title of the novel. Paige has to rethink each of these relationships and how she views these important people in her life.

Readers will either be frustrated by Paige's paralyzing indecision regarding the relationships in her life, or empathize with the difficulty of coping with situations that require forgiveness and new outlook. Paige Rewritten is a novel that provides plenty of food for thought despite the sometimes annoying choices of the lead character.

The final novel in the Paige Adler series, Paige Turned is now available.

Book Details:
Paige Rewritten by Erynn Mangum
Colorado Springs: NavPress   2013
297 pp.

Hitler's Secret by William Osborne

William Osborne has written an exciting adventure novel with an unlikely but unique premise: two teenage operatives sent into Germany during the height of World War II to retrieve a girl of importance to both the Nazis and the British. Osborne weaves his adventure in the alternate voices of the two spies plus that of Reinhart Heydrich.

In June of 1940, a young German boy escapes from Europe during the Allied evacuation at Dunkirk. Meanwhile in London, a young girl, a refugee from Austria, helps deliver blood to local hospitals. Both are recruited by Admiral MacPherson for a very special mission. 

Rudolf Hess, Deputy Fuhrer of the Third Reich is imprisoned in London Tower. He flew across the English Channel from Germany and parachuted into Scotland and is now a prisoner of the British. 

Hess claims that he has organized a plot to overthrow Hitler. In order to accomplish his plan, a girl from southern Germany must be retrieved and brought to England. MacPherson believes this girl will help the British win the war and he needs two German speaking operatives who are not known to Hitler's security services. MacPherson decides to send in two teens because he believes this will lead to a greater chance of success. He reasons that the Germans will be expecting a man and a woman with a child, not three children.

The boy and girl, whose real names we are not given until the end of the novel, are provided with new identities; Otto and Leni Fischer. Their mission is to parachute into southern Bavaria to rescue a nine-year-old girl named Angelique from a convent. From there Otto and Leni are to take the child to a rendezvous point at Lake Constance on the Swiss border where the admiral will be waiting with a plane to fly them back to England.

Otto and Leni undergo two weeks of intensive training before they are flown in a Mosquito, a small fast plane, and dropped into Bavaria. As expected things do not go as planned, although Leni has no trouble getting Angelique to leave the convent. She is more than willing to escape her lonely prison. But from then on it does not take long before the Germans realize that Angelique has been taken by two teenagers.

When Hitler learns of Hess' defection to Britain he orders Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Reich Main Security and the General of the SS to go to the Berghoff where Angelique is being kept, to retrieve her and move her to a more secure location. However, when Heydrich arrives he discovers that Angelique is gone. So begins a cat and mouse game between the three young people and the brutal Heydrich, determined to hunt them down at all cost.

Discussion

Although the premise behind the story might be unlikely (Hitler was never believed to have had any children and it's likely that in Germany three children travelling alone would definitely arouse suspicion), Osborne has created an exciting adventure story with heroic, quick-witted teens and a cruel arch-enemy who stops at nothing to try to apprehend them. Osborne doesn't spare his readers anything when it comes to portraying Heydrich as the cruel man he was known to be. He has no problem murdering people who fail him. He's portrayed as cold and calculating and completely obsessed with his quarry.

For the most part, Otto and Leni are realistic characters, at times courageous, at other times fearful, sometimes making bad choices and other times demonstrating cunning and intelligence. However, they do seem too well trained for the two week period they worked with British agents.  Although they have not been told the true identity of Angelique, Otto and Leni eventually figure out who she is and decide that she will likely not be safe with either the British or the Nazis. But Angelique takes matters into her own hands, providing a twist to the end of the novel.

Osborne includes a map outlining Otto and Leni's journey which is helpful to understanding the journey the two are undertaking. There is a short section at the back of the novel which provides brief information on various historical figures. For those interested in learning more about Reinhard Heydrich, the Jewish Virtual Library has a good entry as it also does for Rudolf Hess.

Book Details:
Hitler's Secret by William Osborne
New York: Chicken House    2013
333 pp.

Alienated by Melissa Landers

Seventeen year old, overachiever, Cara Sweeney, has been chosen over thousands of applicants to participate in the Leihr Exchange Ambassador Program (LEAP). The L'eihr's are an alien race who made contact with Earth two years ago and the program was developed to help humans and L'eihrs get to know one another better. Students from America, France and China will each get a student ambassador. 

Cara will host a L'eihr named Aelyx, in her home for eight months and then she will travel to L'eihr to live on their planet for period of time. Cara will be helping Aelyx take soil and water samples so the L'eihr scientists can analyze them for contaminants. Cara is completely overwhelmed but she eagerly agrees to participate. After all, the L'eihr scientists cured her mother of cancer, saving her life. This was a way to show her gratitude.

Meanwhile eighteen-year-old Aelyx, along with fellow L'eihr clones, Syrine who will go to France, and Eron who will stay in China, discuss their assignments to families on Earth. They also allude to their plans to sabotage their mission which is to begin work towards an alliance with humans.

This alien exchange story is told by Cara and Aelyx. When Cara sees Aelyx for the first time she is immediately attracted to his unusual appearance;  Aelyx is tall, with honey brown hair and strange silvery gray eyes. Despite his good looks, predictably Cara finds Aelyx extremely strange; he refuses to eat or drink, only speaks when he's asked a question, avoids physical contact and his gorgeous eyes have an unsettling emptiness to them.

For Aelyx, Earth is shockingly vibrant; it strong colours and smells overwhelming in comparison to  L'eihr's muted greys and browns and its quiet, organized lifestyle. He finds Cara's actions puzzling - her penchant for singing and listening to loud music. Both Cara and Aelyx must learn to put aside their assumptions about each other and to develop a mutual understanding of each others culture.

The mission of the L'eihrs is gradually revealed throughout the story. The L'eihrs who are an ancient and advanced people, want to form an alliance with the humans. It is revealed later on in the novel that the L'eihrs were once like humans, violent and passionate. The Way, a group of the wisest leaders,  eventually came to rule L'eihr. In an effort to control and eliminate the violent and stronger tendencies, The Way began a selective breeding program where only the most intelligent and emotionally stable citizens were allowed to breed. As technology improved, natural breeding was replaced by technology that combined genetic material from male and females, with embryos grown in artificial wombs. For the past 900 years the L'eihrs have bred in this manner. Sexual interaction was avoided by the use of hormone regulators.  However, the result of all this is that the passion and creativity which drives innovation and makes life interesting was gradually bred out of the L'eihrs resulting in a people who are lethargic, depressed and who live shorter lives. In an attempt to reverse this, the Way began cloning people using material from the archives. Aelyx is one such clone. Soon the Way realized that this was not enough. They needed the stimulation provided by another species to help them recover what they lost so they began searching the galaxy. They discovered Earth and have set up this exchange program which they hope will help the three clones recover some of their emotion and passion. Eventually they hope the two races will interbreed. In exchange for recovering their passion for life, the L'eihrs could provide Earth with advanced technology.

However, Aelyx's generation does not want an alliance with Earth. To thwart this alliance they have brought along the sh'alear, a parasitic tree that robs the soil of nutrients, to plant in the three locations the student ambassadors will be living. The three L'eihr ambassadors are afraid that the humans, with their uncontrolled breeding, would soon overrun L'eihr if they were to colonize their planet, destroying it.

Gradually Aelyx begins to adapt to life on Earth, especially with Cara's help. Although he has judged Cara and her family as wanting, he begins to recognize in Cara a caring ally who is very loyal. Cara is determined to make Aelyx's experience on Earth a positive one. She tries to learn how to make larun for Aelyx and eventually she discovers foods he can eat.  She also stands up for him at school as the opposition to his presence on Earth grows. Gradually Aelyx and Cara's relationship moves from one of friendship to a blossoming romance.

Despite the increasing opposition to the L'eihrs on Earth, Aelyx begins to find himself becoming conflicted over having planted the sh'alear tree. Eron, who has been sent to Japan also begins to doubt their attempt to sabotage the alliance, because of the kindness of his host family. Only Syrine remains committed to their mission. Aelyx is further convinced it is wrong when he makes the discovery that Earth's water supply is gradually being destroyed and that only the L'eihr technology can save the planet. As racial tensions and paranoia increase on Earth Aelyx must decide who his loyalties lie with; his people or the human girl whom he loves.

Discussion

Alienated is a refreshing new addition to young adult literature, with an interesting premise and two likeable, realistic characters. Landers draws out her story well, pacing both the human's gradual disillusionment and paranoia over the alien L'eihr race with the blossoming love between Aelyx and Cara. Woven into all this is Aelyx's increasing conflict over what he considers his duty to protect his planet from humans and his growing attraction to Cara. Destroying the alliance between humans and L'eihrs means he will  never see Cara again. In addition to this, the discovery that Earth is irreparably damaged and will die without the intervention of the L'eihr, means that he has doomed Cara too.

One of the novel's strongest themes is that of tolerance. It is human nature to be afraid of those who are different. But this is seen in both humans and the L'eihr ambassadors. The humans believe the worst of the L'eihrs probably because the balance of power lies in the alien's favour. The L'eihrs are prideful and dismiss the human's emotionalism as primitive and a sign of weakness. But they have forgotten how to truly experience life.

Cara is a strong female character, not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. She is tolerant as she struggles to understand Aelyx's perspective. It is her open-mindedness and courage that wins Aelyx over to the humans, just as it was Eron's little brother's love and compassion that changed his views. The lesson here is that acceptance and compassion win the day over hate and bigotry.

Perhaps the only thing that appears to mar this novel are the occasional strange statements that seep into the storytelling from time to time. For example, this piece of commentary by Aelyx: "The child bore a slight resemblance to the girl, but considering China's population restrictions, he probably wasn't a sibling. Too bad Earth's other nations hadn't implemented similar policies. With their limited resources, humans were mating themselves into extinction." Perhaps Melissa Landers is unfamiliar with the problems China's one child policy has created in terms of gender imbalance, the trafficking of women in China, and the inverted population pyramid that will see many elderly without the children to support them. Advanced aliens like the L'eihrs who are struggling with what they've done to their society, especially by restricting just who could reproduce, would likely be very aware of the problems inherent in China's one child policy. They would also be aware that vast areas of Earth are not yet populated and that the problem is not too many people but poor distribution and use of our planet's resources.

Despite this, Alienated is a fun, light read, with plenty of typical teenage drama and a dash of romance all blended into a neat science fiction story. These are the aliens we want to contact Earth, needing us as much as we need them.

The next book in the Alienated series is due out next year.

Book Details:
Alienated by Melissa Landers
New York: Hyperion     2014
344pp.

Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Scott tackles an unusual ethical dilemma in her latest novel, Heartbeat. Seventeen year old Emma's mom, Lisa has "died" and is being kept alive on life support by her mom's new husband, Dan, so that their unborn baby son can continue to develop in-utero long enough to be delivered. Emma is horrified by Dan's apparent unilateral decision, believing that this is not what her mother would have wanted. "I mean, I know it's a baby and it's partly Mom, but I wish Dan had just once thought about what Mom would have wanted." 

Shortly after her mother and Dan married, Emma's mom began taking fertility treatments. She spent two years in fertility treatments before she finally succeeded in becoming pregnant. However as Emma's mother had previously had a blood clot in her leg, her pregnancy was not without some risk. Then one day, at twelve weeks into her pregnancy, Emma's mother was reaching for a piece of toast and collapsed.  She had a massive embolism in her brain.

Dan was given the option to turn off the ventilator or keep Emma's mom on it and save their unborn baby. He chose to try to keep his wife alive to save their unborn baby believing that this is what she would have wanted. But Emma is distraught because she feels Dan has chosen the baby over her mom, who has now been on the ventilator for almost four weeks.

Emma's anger over her mother's situation is so overwhelming that it threatens to destroy her entire life. She isn't on speaking terms with her stepfather, Dan, and spends most of her time at her friend, Olivia's home. Emma was an excellent student working towards gaining admission to one of the top ten schools with the goal of obtaining her PhD in history. Now she doesn't care about school, her assignments are late or not completed at all. And most of all she doesn't care about her ex-boyfriend, Anthony, the self-absorbed boy who made out with her and then dumped her.

But then Emma meets bad boy Caleb Harrison. Emma has already formed an opinion about Caleb who has a reputation at school for being a "total druggie" and who steals cars. He drove his father's limited-edition Porsche into the lake and watched it sink. When Emma goes to the hospital to see her mom, she runs into Caleb doing volunteer work. 

When Emma really looks at Caleb she realizes that he is sad, although she doesn't know why. Emma continues to encounter Caleb at the hospital and when they talk she realizes that he understands how she feels. As their relationship develops amid a shared loss, Emma discovers that Caleb's empathy and understanding give her the strength to confront her stepfather about what she's feeling and about what happened to their family.

Discussion  

Heartbeat considers a very specific medical situation, one which has been in the media recently, involving keeping a pregnant woman who has been diagnosed as "brain dead" on life support so that her unborn baby might have a chance to survive to viability. The concept of brain death is something Scott never directly addresses in her novel but it is central to the story and important to understand.

A person is declared brain dead when a specific set of criteria have been met. These criteria were  developed in 1968 by the Harvard Medical School specifically so that organs could be retrieved from living donors for transplantation. What many people do not know is that organs "harvested" from a dead person without a beating heart are unsuitable for transplantation because they deteriorate within minutes of death. For organs to be suitable for transplantation, the donor must have a beating heart and continue to breathe and must do so until the last organ, usually the heart, is removed.

While most doctors have accepted the brain death criteria, some doctors are now questioning both the neurological criteria for declaring brain death and its use. One of the main criteria used in declaring brain death is the apnea test where the patient is removed from a ventilator to see if they can breathe on their own. This inability to breathe is not necessarily a sign of death. A ventilator might be needed to aid in the patient's recovery and in some cases removal either causes more damage or results in the patient's death. Complicating the brain death issue is the fact that patients who have been given a diagnosis of brain death continue to behave as a living person; hair and nails grow, food is digested and expelled, unborn babies continue to grow. Are these patients truly dead?

Further complicating this issue are the countless situations related in the media over the past thirty years, of people declared brain dead, who regain consciousness sometimes immediately prior to a a planned procedure to have their organs removed. It appears that the current brain death criteria suggest doctors do not fully understand injuries to the brain and how the brain heals from these injuries.

Recently there have been several situations which have re-ignited the discussion around brain death - namely pregnant women who have been kept alive so that their unborn babies might grow to 24 weeks and be delivered. There is no doubt that these situations are terribly traumatic and complicated for the families involved. Each case must be taken on an individual basis as each pregnancy is different.

While this short novel doesn't go into all this detail, Scott does a good job of demonstrating how traumatic this situation is to Emma and her stepdad. It rips apart their relationship as both make assumptions about how the other felt about the wife and mother they loved and lost and what she was experiencing during the pregnancy and what she would have wanted for their family. It underscores the importance of having a power of attorney for personal care. This would have been especially important in Emma's mother's situation as she had prior health issues.

As Emma's life disintegrates, it is her relationship with Caleb that ultimately helps her get back on track, confront Dan about what happened when her mother collapsed, and what their relationship will be in the future. Although Emma's situation is difficult, Caleb's is tragic as his parents seem unable to cope in any way with the death of their daughter, Minnie. Their personal tragedies allow Caleb and Emma to forge a bond and develop a relationship that is both affirming and supplies mutual support. With Caleb, Emma can begin to grieve and this helps move her forward to the next steps of acceptance and hope.

Fans of Elizabeth Scott will enjoy the emotional drama in this novel, as will those readers who read Lurlene McDaniel's novels which focus on characters struggling with a chronic illness.

Book Details:
Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott
Don Mills: Ontario  HarlequinTeen    2014
244 pp.

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

A regular girl and her best friend, a dog, do all kinds of things together, including making things. One day this regular girl decides she will make something magnificent. So she hires an assistant, gathers the supplies she needs and begins work on what will be something magnificent. Except the making just doesn't quite go as planned. No matter how hard the regular girl tries, the thing she is making just doesn't come out to be magnificent. But finally the girl works it all out and her creation truly is magnificent and original.

The Most Magnificent Thing is yet another wonderful picture book about creativity and persistence in difficult situations. A good lesson for all little people to learn.

Ashley Spires is the award-winning author and illustrator of Larf and Binky the Space Cat series. As Spires claims in her book, "the artwork in this book was rendered digitally with lots of practice, two hissy fits and one all-out tantrum." Spires who grew up in Tsawwassen, British Columbia won the Silver Birch Express Award for Binky the Space Cat.

The Most Magnificent Thing is ideal to read to older children and those participating in Reading Buddies programs.

Book Details:
The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires
Toronto: Kids Can Press     2014

The World Outside by Eva Wiseman

Wiseman has crafted yet another interesting novel that informs and engages young readers about the Crown Heights riots of 1991.

Seventeen-year-old Chanie Altman belongs to the Lubavitcher Hasidic community in Crown Heights, New York. She lives in a huge home with her Babba, her mother and father, her twin brother Moishe and her older brother Yossi. Chanie spends much time caring for her twin brother who was disabled during a difficult birth.

Chanie's family, along with others in the Crown Heights Hasidic community, follow the teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.  Hasidic Jews live by strict rules; boys and girls do not mingle, there is no television and they do not go to movies, they only listen to Jewish music, and they never read non-religious books. The boys do not continue secular schooling after grade five while the girls attend seminary and then marry.

Chanie and her friends, Deborah Leah and Faygie Kauffman are in grade twelve at Bais Rivkah, a Lubavitcher high school in Crown Heights. Chanie is different from her friends as she loves music and especially wants to sing, which is forbidden to Lubavitcher girls. She also is beginning to question all of her beliefs.

One Sunday in March, Chanie, Deborah and Faygie, go to the mall to hand out candles and prayer leaflets to Jews. During this outreach, Chanie meets David Goldberg, a handsome young man with beautiful blue eyes. Although Daniel is of Jewish background, he is not religious. Chanie feels instantly attracted to him, something she terms the "Evil Inclination" which she tries to resist.

Soon after, David begins coming to her home to study the Torah with Yossi, something that shocks Chanie. This leads Chanie and David to begin secretly meeting. At first Chanie plans to tell David she cannot meet him again as it is forbidden. When David overhears her singing to Moishe, he is impressed by her beautiful voice. Believing her to be very gifted, David encourages Chanie to apply to Julliard, despite that fact that, for her, singing is forbidden.

Meanwhile Chanie meets a black girl, Jade, who is from Boston and is staying in Crown Heights with her Aunt Rita Mae. Jade has taken the semester off from her studies at Vassar to decide what she wants to do with her life. Chanie is warned by her mother not to mix with Blacks who do not trust their Jewish neighbours, but Chanie has other ideas. Soon she and Jade are meeting at Yoni's Yummi Pizza Parlour where Jade encourages Chanie to discover what she wants from life. Chanie explains to Jade that members of the Lubavitch Sect believe they must do what the Rebbe tells them to.

Unknown to her parents, Chanie continues to see both Jade and David, developing a strong friendship with Jade and following through on David's suggestion to apply to Julliard. Events come to a climax when a black boy in Crown Heights is struck and killed by one of the cars in Rabbi Schneerson's entourage. Set against the riots against Jews in Crown Heights, Chanie must decide her path in life and determine what matters most to her. Will she follow her dreams or will she remain true to her beliefs?

Discussion

The World Outside is a coming of age story set within the Lubavitch-Hasidic Jewish community of Brooklyn, New York in the late twentieth century. 

The Lubavitch-Hasidic movement was founded in the late eighteenth century in Russia. The movement moved from Russia to Poland, and then with the outbreak of Nazism in Europe, to Brooklyn, New York in the 1940's. The Hasidic movement was brought to America by the then rabbi, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who passed away in 1950.

Menachem Mendel Schneerson who became the Rebbe or leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement in 1951, was a Russian-American. Born in Nikovaev, which was part of Russia, in 1902, Schneerson came to New York in 1941,escaping Nazi Europe. In 1991, a car in Schneerson's motorcade, fell behind the lead car and ran a red light. In doing so, the car struck two seven-year-old Guyanese-American children, Angela and Gavin Cato. The children were pinned under the car, killing Gavin while Angela survived.  The accident triggered the Crown Heights riot that lasted three days, from August 19 to 21, 1991. Jews were attacked by the Black residents, homes damaged and businesses looted. An Jewish international student was murdered. The riot had long-lasting implications for both the Jewish and Black communities and the city of New York.

The Hasidic community believes in traditional roles for men and women. Women, while they do work outside the home in secretarial, retail and in teaching in girls' religious schools, are seen as wives and mothers. Hasidic women believe in dressing modestly and those who are married wear wigs and a scarf. Hasidic men are recognizable with their dark clothing, black hats and long beards. Men and women are segregated: boy and girls are educated separately and men and women do not mingle at social events. As shown in the novel, the Lubavitch-Hasidic sect is involved in outreach to other non-sect Jews.

In The World Outside, readers learn what life is like in the Lubavitch-Hasidic community through the character of Chanie who is deeply conflicted. She struggles with the beliefs her Hasidic sect hold dear and her desire to see some of the outside world. While Chanie's choice might disappoint some readers, the reality is that for the type of sect that Chanie belongs to, her beliefs are deeply ingrained and the ties to her large family are deeply held. Wiseman does a wonderful job of portraying the internal conflict Chanie struggles against. Readers will suspect that Chanie's difficult and uncompromising mother has likely faced similar choices in her past. Many of the other characters in the novel are well developed and interesting; Chanie's strict and forceful mother, Jade who is open and welcoming with her friendship, and David who falls in love with Chanie and who demonstrates his love for her by his care for her family.

Chanie's application to Julliard felt unrealistic especially given that Chanie had no formal music training and could not read music. Julliard auditions are rigorous and likely included submitting a prescreening audio recording even back in 1991. Overall though, The World Outside offers a unique look at a section of American society that has chosen to live life very differently from the secular world. The novel asks readers to consider themes of rebellion, reconciliation and coming of age within a strict society that has unique expectations. 

Book Details:
The World Outside by Eva Wiseman
Toronto: Tundra Books    2014
232 pp.