Waiting on Wednesday: Nightshifted

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature at Breaking the Spine.

My pick this week is the upcoming book Nightshifted by Cassie Alexander. This will be released on May 22, 2012.

Summary: Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine--from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond...

Edie's just trying to learn the ropes so she can get through her latest shift unscathed. But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her watch, all hell breaks loose. Now she's haunted by the man's dying words--"Save Anna"--and before she knows it, she's on a mission to rescue some poor girl from the undead. Which involves crashing a vampire den, falling for a zombie, and fighting for her soul. "Grey's Anatomy" was never like this...

Why I picked it: I've never read any Urban Fantasy, but I've wanted to get into it for a while. This one seems a little cheesy, but I'm intrigued by the idea!

Book Review: Laika

Author and Illustrator: Nick Abadzis
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Release Date: September 4, 2007
Pages: 208
Source: Borrowed from the library
Why I read it: I wanted to read more about Laika and the Soviet Space Program.

What I thought: This book had popped up as a recommended book on Goodreads a while ago, but I ignored it, and maybe I should have, because learning about Laika has been very heartbreaking for me.

I first learned about Laika this week and scoured the internet to find all the information I could about her. There's not much, unfortunately, but I thought I would read this book, since I heard it was well researched, even if not everything in the book was true. She was the first dog and first living creature put into space/orbit. Unfortunately, because of political pressure, the engineers in the program didn't have enough time to formulate a plan to bring her home and she died in space after a few hours. This book is about Laika, her fictionalized keeper, Yelena, Korolev, the chief designer of the Soviet Space Program and Gazenko, one of the scientists involved with Laika.

Laika gets a back story, and while this is obviously speculation, we can never imagine Laika's life before she was in the space program, these scenes were really tearjerkers for me. I thought I would not like the back story, but I think it added something to the overall story. Because there is not a lot of information on Laika, there has to be some speculation. I liked the scenes where she flew in people's dreams. Like she was already ready to meet her destiny. Not to say that I enjoyed her death, but I thought the scenes of her flying, in dreams and in space were beautifully rendered and captured her spirit.

The character of Yelena and her relationship with the dogs was a big tearjerker for me, too. I like how Abadzis didn't anthropomorphize Laika, but had Yelena speaking for her. All animal lovers do this to an extent and I read an interview with Abadzis where he made this point as well, that we as humans project their emotions and experiences on animals. The trust between her and Laika was heartbreaking, as well. I think the afterword put it best, "the personal stories, both canine and human, that bring Laika alive as a meditation on the meaning of destiny and the fragile beauty of trust." That, to me, is what the book was about. Korolev and Laika both had a destiny and Laika trusted her keepers and they sent her on a one-way ticket to space. Not to criticize the scientists, as at least one of them, Gazenko, regretted the experiment. They really were doing something they believed was for the good of science, but I think the book shows how they grappled with it, that maybe it wasn't an easy decision for them.

As stated before, I liked the depiction of her flying into space, while it was sad, I think it also depicted that she finally had a sort freedom as she flew into oblivion. And when she and Sputnik II returned to earth, she left a mark. I thought ending with the blackness was beautiful and it contrasted nicely with the opening all in white.

Overall, this book was amazing. I think Abadzis captured all the conflicting emotions about Laika and the Soviet space program. I cried through most of the book.

A quote from Gazenko captures everything best: "Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I'm sorry about it. We shouldn't have done it... We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog."

Book Review: Freedom! (Miss Annie)

Author: Frank Le Gall
Illustrator: Flore Balthazar
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Release Date: March 1, 2012
Pages: 48
Source: ARC from NetGalley
Why I read it: I love cats.


What I thought: When I first saw this pop up on NetGalley, I knew I had to read it right away. I don't like to make comparisons to other books, but it made me think immediately of Binky the Space Cat. I loved that book, and thought I would like this one, too. Unfortunately, it wasn't as great as I had hoped.

The book is a short graphic novel following the adventures of Miss Annie, who wants so badly to go outside.

I looked up this book and author and it looks like this was previously published in France in 2010. I don't know if something was lost in translation, but the dialogue fell a little flat for me. I would have liked it better if it was written in 3rd person rather than 1st person. The plot was almost non-existent. Miss Annie wants to go outside, meets a mouse, goes outside and then comes back. It could have been a little meatier. The relationship between Miss Annie and the mouse could have been explored more, and what Miss Annie learns when she goes outside. And maybe more suspenseful, with all of the dangers lurking outside. At one point, when Miss Annie is outside, she is chased by a ferocious looking dog, but there was no suspense or sense of danger! I also didn't really like the family. Yes, I have cats, and sometimes they are annoying, but Miss Annie's family didn't seem to like her very much at all.

However, after all that negativity, I thought the illustrations were adorable. Obviously the illustrator is great at capturing felines and is most likely a cat lover. I thought the illustrations of the people weren't as well done, but were made up in the illustrations of the animals. When I first read the book, I didn't realize it was originally published in France, and I wished that could have been illustrated more in the book.

Overall, I thought the illustrations were very cute, but the plot and execution were lacking. I give this book 2 stars: It was OK.

Waiting on Wednesday: Blackbirds

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature at Breaking the Spine.

My pick this week is the upcoming book Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig. This will be released on April 24, 2012.

Summary: Miriam Black knows when you will die. She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides.

But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.

No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.

Why I picked it: Wow, what can I say, I LOVE the cover. And the description is pretty compelling, too, but that cover! WOW!

Waiting on Wednesday: Scarlet

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature at Breaking the Spine.

My pick this week is Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen. This will be released on Valentine's Day, 2012!

Summary: Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance.

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

Why I'm waiting: I love the story of Robin Hood and I love retellings, so I hope this one is good!

Book Review: Me, Earl and the Dying Girl

Author: Jesse Andrews
Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
Release Date: March 1, 2012
Pages:288
Why I read it: I got an ARC from Netgalley and the cover and premise drew me in.

What I thought: Wow! This book really blew me away.

The story centers around Greg Gaines, a budding filmmaker in high school. He has a best friend in Earl, foul mouthed and living in a very dysfunctional home. Greg tries to skate the lines between all the groups at his high school, being friendly with all social groups, but belonging to none. This changes when one of Greg's acquaintances, Rachel, is diagnosed with leukemia and Greg is coerced
I felt that I was a little bit like Greg when I was a teenager, besides being male. He's kind of a loner with one best friend, and he's also very self-deprecating. Sometimes the self-deprecation was a little too much for me, but that also might be because I know I was (am?) that way when I was in high school. The other characters are quirky, but Andrews does flesh them out well. Rachel seemed to be the only character not fully fleshed out, but I think this was intentional, because Greg doesn't know a lot about her and instead tries to make her laugh by talking and talking. In some ways, he's very self-centered, but he comes to realize this at the end, and even compares himself to Earl, who he believes is a better person than him.

I am so glad the book didn't resort to a boring romance. Although other characters saw Rachel and Greg as a couple, Greg never saw their relationship as a romantic one. He even confesses that he barely learned anything about Rachel. Rachel was almost a vehicle for Greg to "find himself" but I don't think the author went down this path and I am so glad he didn't. Greg readily admits that he is most likely not a good person and reacts to Rachel's death in a way that seems fitting for a teen. He doesn't become sentimental or go on and on about her death. He says many times that he didn't learn anything from her death, but in the end, I think he does. There are a few parts in the end where I teared up when Greg talks about Rachel, even though they are mostly acquaintances and not close friends.

The story jumps around in different forms of prose. From a screenplay to a list and then back to regular prose. I thought this would be unsettling, but I think it worked in the way the author set up the characters and the plot. Greg wants to be a filmmaker and he tells the story like one is watching a movie.
Overall, I give the book 4 stars. I really did like the character of Greg and my adult self sees part of him in my teen self. I also really liked the cover. I think it's unique and each character gets a representation on the cover.

Diversity in YA

In read the 2011 recap on the Book Smugglers blog, I found a link to Diversity in YA. I realize the challenge was over last Fall, but I'm interested in doing it myself this year.

I already found new books to read from their website, but now I'm trying to find diverse books that are coming out this year to read.